Described as a “labourer,” Mr R McMurray, said he was close to where the fire had its origin at an electrical switchboard at Wattie’s. The fire, he said, “began instantaneously” – but with no explosion.
The corner where he worked “suddenly became a mass of flame and smoke.” As the walls were highly inflammable malthoid linings – they quickly caught ablaze.
Sir James Wattie checking out the company's produce. Photo / Wattie's NZ
The fire then spread into the nearby warehouse and storeroom, and through a tunnel into the quick freeze chamber. As polystyrene in the factory burned – it sent a black plume of smoke at a low level through Hastings.
All staff were safely evacuated, and the Hastings Fire Brigade were soon on their way.
Within half an hour, a quarter of the factory was on fire – and Wattie’s steam boiler room was under threat from the spreading fire ‒ with only a brick wall separating the flames from the boilers and the nearby tanks containing 77,000 litres of oil.
Five Hastings fire appliances arrived and one from Napier. Forty firemen using 2700 metres of fire hose began to tackle the fire from four sides.
Initially, a water supply was from a 4 inch (2.54cm) main was available, but artesian wells on the property were soon used to pump water.
As fire hoses were to go over railway lines from a supply of water from Caroline Road, a trench was dug to put the hose from the Napier fire engine under the railway line. (In 1896, fire hoses were laid over the railway lines in Hastings and lifted due to the Wellington-bound mail train having right of way. This interruption caused the fire to burn out of control.)
Of great hindrance were the thousands of people who flocked to see what the fire was (its smoke could be seen 80km away).
A first aid station was set up by Wattie’s resident nurse, Sister Thompson, who treated around 25 to 30 victims of cuts and burns on site, with three people taken to hospital.
Around 4.5 million litres of water were used on the fire, which was under control in two hours.
Nearly one third of the factory was destroyed.
The fire, said James Wattie, started on the mezzanine floor used as a storage area, and once alight spread rapidly. A section of the factory roof burned quickly. He explained during World War II, corrugated iron was not available, so wood sarking and pitch was used instead.
“We lost quick-frozen peas but the biggest produce lost was in canned goods. Stored in the area burnt out were pears, peas, beetroot, spaghetti, baked beans and tomato sauce.”
He took control of tidying up of the fire’s mess and restoration of production.
Within six hours of the fire beginning, he organised a train carrying eight railway trucks of beans and tomatoes from the King Street site, and together with some of the cannery’s own trucks, they headed to the Gisborne processing factory, which would begin a 24 hour processing operation.
Wattie’s insurer organised a sale of stocks of peas sold at the company’s yard for 75 cents a case. Three traffic officers were required to control the traffic queues.
Fortunately – as the boilers remained intact, and the fruit and vegetable canning plant and can making plant was untouched – the engineers purchased enough 150mm pipe to restore steam to the processing line. Orders for replacement plant and machinery were placed.
At 5.30pm on 21 February – 50 hours after the fire started, the J Wattie Canneries’ factory whistle sounded – full scale production would begin on three canning lines for pears.
Wattie’s share price had dipped to 11 shilling and six pence on news of the fire but recovered within a week to 12 shillings six pence – three pence shy of their 1962 peak share price.
Two competitors, Fropax (NZ) Limited and a New South Wales company offered to process under the Wattie’s label. Tomatoes were pulped in Hastings for Wattie’s by New Zealand Foods Ltd.
Napier Mayor Peter Tait offered the use “of any machinery and equipment you can use, and we shall be disappointed if you do not ask us to share in restoring the effects of the fire”.
Lever Bros (Unilever), Thompson and Hills and Snowcraft – all competitors, also helped, with Snowcraft offering 50 tonnes of peas to be processed under the Wattie name.
C H Slater offered at nominal cost, cool storage of 1360 cases of pears. Many trucking companies supplied trucks for free to move produce for Wattie’s.
James Wattie organised a publicity brochure: “An ordeal by fire” – which was an excellent piece of public relations, which allayed fears of the company’s immediate future.
The Bank of New South Wales manager in Hastings cabled his manager in Wellington.
“This is what Jim Wattie thrives on. He will accept it as a challenge and will see a bigger and better establishment rise out of the ashes.”
That’s exactly what happened.
James Wattie took out an advert in the two major newspapers on 22 February – the day after production had resumed.
“During my 60 years of life, if I ever had the slightest doubt the existence of good neighbourliness and the sincerity of humanity they have been completely obliterated by personal experience in the past few days.”
