Mop-up begins after ferocious fires

The fire about 20 minutes after it began. Photo / Rachel Frear

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It was a long hot day for Hawke's Bay firefighters as they battled two major fires, one started by the other.

Tonight they were moving cardboard trays which had caught fire behind a packaging store and dampening down hotspots there and at a coolstore where the drama started.

Police had to block off a number of roads on the northern outskirts of Hastings as firefighters from Hastings, Havelock North Napier and Bayview fought the blaze.

The massive fire that destroyed a large 100m by 150m coolstore building in the Hastings suburb of Mahora started just after 9am spread to a second building 50m away just after 11am.

By 9.30am there were at least eight appliance and their crews fighting the coolstore fire, and trying to keep it from setting alight a nearby ammonia plant.

Incident controller Chris Nichol said the fire "was totally involved" when firefighters arrived.

"Our main concern was that there is a six tonne ammonia plant sandwiched between the building on fire and an adjacent building which was exposed, but wasn't on fire," he said.

"We concentrated on trying to isolate that ammonia plant from the fire.

"We were up against it a little bit because the ammonia plant was downwind from the actual building on fire."

No sooner had firefighters managed to control the coolstore blaze, then another broke out about 150m away in apple-packing trays behind a packaging plant.

Fire communications shift manager Mike Wanoa told NZPA this afternoon that the second fire was "deepseated" with a large amount of cardboard alight.

The second fire was believed to have been caused by blown embers from the burning coolstore, but the cause of the coolstore fire was not yet known.

The first blaze completely destroyed the building that was formerly owned by Turners and Growers, but now owned by Balanced Investments.

One witness said the area looked like an "atomic bomb" had hit.

Mr Wanoa said because of the fumes, police had considered an "in house evacuation of the area" where people would need to stay indoors and close doors and windows.

Nearby residents reported ash and debris falling on them.

Another witness said smoke from the blaze could be seen from as far away as Napier.

Senior Fire Officer Wayne Clarke tonight said the coolstore had been destroyed, but the firefighters had managed to save the nearby buildings and the ammonia plant.

He said it was a good save preventing the ammonia plant catching fire because there would have been a big problem if the gas had been released.

Video courtesy of Chrystal.

- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF