KEY POINTS:
A 53-year-old family business in Rotorua is in tatters after fire swept through its factory just after lunchtime yesterday, and the owners are upset at how long it took the Fire Service to arrive.
But Gary and Sandra Coppard are determined to rebuild their livelihood.
The blaze at
souvenir manufacturing firm Memories of New Zealand began in a spray booth - an area that is used to apply paints or lacquers to giftware such as tiki, carvings, paua necklaces, and other memorabilia.
Gary Coppard said he and Sandra felt devastated at the loss, which had come at the busiest time of the year.
The View Rd firm supplies around 350 retail customers around the country. It was founded by Mr Coppard's father, George, in 1953.
"I was right there when [the fire] happened, I was in the actual room," Mr Coppard said. "I was just in the corner in the room and felt heat on my back and I turned around and here's all these flames licking up the walls."
The fumes and gases coming from the fire were too strong to stay in the room and Mr Coppard said he evacuated all six employees from the building as the fire took hold.
He and his wife stood by anxiously for what they estimated to be 15 minutes before help from the Fire Service arrived.
Mr Coppard said the city's only two trucks were both attending another job in town, rescuing people stuck in a lift.
Senior station officer of Rotorua's Fire Service Richard Anastasi said the call came in at 1.34pm and the crews were not notified of the job until six minutes later. Records showed firefighters arrived at the scene at 1.44pm.
However, the Fire Service said today that this was not correct. Fire crews were alerted within two minutes of the call being received. Mr Anastasi's crew did not leave for a further four minutes as they were dealing with another call-out.
Mr Anastasi said yesterday that it was normal for two engines to attend jobs in the city. "There were four people trapped in the lift, one with a medical condition."
The crews left for the View Rd business as soon as they were notified of the fire, he said.
Mr Anastasi said initial efforts by employees to fight the blaze with emergency hoses and extinguishers were fruitless.
"By the time we arrived the building was virtually gone. It's mostly destroyed but we've managed to save the adjacent office block, which only has minor damage." He estimated the gutted area at 10m by 20m.
Officers were still working to find the cause.
Mr Coppard said he expected it had started through an electrical fault.
He was determined to continue with the business, which turned over about $800,000 a year. He was confident firefighters had done enough to save essential parts of the plant.
"We'll get going again in a week hopefully, once we find somewhere to put all the machinery." The business was insured.
