Cause of Waikato apiary blaze ruled as accidental by Fenz investigators

Bees' Inn Apiaries owner Dave West says they've got a plan in place to get back into business, as well as starting the demolition of the building. Photo / Belinda Feek

The cause of a fire that destroyed a Waikato apiary business has been ruled accidental.

Bees' Inn Apiaries, in Ohaupo, south of Hamilton, was reduced to rubble and a tangled and crumbled mess of iron framing after fire ripped through the premises late on Wednesday last week.

It took fire crews two days to fully extinguish the blaze which saw 100 tonnes of honey - most of the company's stock - destroyed.

Fire and Emergency NZ investigator Ross Fleet confirmed the cause of the fire was accidental.

Four other fire safety investigators also came to the same conclusion, he said.

Despite the building being completely destroyed, they were able to pinpoint that the fire began in the tea room.

Exactly what happened will never be known, but it appeared to be an "infrastructural failure".

He said the company did have pest and rodent control in place, but one of the critters chewing through wiring isn't something that could be ruled out.

Flames still can be seen burning inside the building as plumes of smoke fill the night sky. Photo / Fenz

"There's no suggestion of anything deliberate or suspicious. There was quite good evidence that the fire started from an accidental cause but were not sure what. When you look at the site there was a large amount of destruction."

He said firefighters remained at the scene from the Wednesday night through till about 6.30pm Friday.

Bees' Inn owner Dave West told the Herald today they would shortly begin the demolition process of the building before undertaking a rebuild.

As for the companies domestic and international contracts, West said they would still be fulfilled and clients had been informed of the blaze.

"We're going to contract out some of the export packing work and we're looking at leasing another factory until our one is up and running. So while it's not ideal, you've got to make the best of the situation.

The building was a crumpled mess after being ravaged by fire last week. Photo / Belinda Feek

"That way we retain our customers."

They would also be purchasing product to fulfill the export orders.

West said it took a few days for the severity of what happened to sink in but he and his team were now focused on moving forward.

Meanwhile, Fleet said swarms of hungry bees did arrive as expected, however somehow none of the firefighters, who were all equipped with epi-pens, were bitten or injured.

"Considering there were a large number of firefighters all day Thursday and part of Friday, so they could completely extinguish the fire, to the best of my knowledge no Fire and Emergency staff got stung."

Firefighters work to contain a massive blaze at Ohaupo's Bees' Inn Apiaries last week. Photo / Fenz

Fleet said he had a close call himself after discovering a bee had flown in underneath his helmet.

He'd already been briefed by Bees' Inn staff about what to do if that happened - remain calm and not aggravate the creature - so he gently took his helmet off and the bee flew away.

Due to their unwanted guests and the unsteady structure, Fleet got in two drones to help pinpoint hotspots and where the fire started.