Works blaze rips through community

From left, Te Ana, Josh, Toni, Elijah and Aaliya. Photo / Doug Sherring

For Josh Barrett and 349 others, there is only one pay cheque left until Christmas. That was the immediate reality facing staff at the Te Aroha meatworks destroyed by fire yesterday morning.

Barrett was among dozens of worried workers who drove to the plant to assess the damage. The impact of the fire on the plant has reverberated through the community which relies so heavily on the jobs the works provides.

A meeting will be held tomorrow at which meatworks owner Silver Fern Farms will outline options, which include redeployment to other works.

Workers will be paid next week but the company could not give any guarantees yesterday about what will happen after that.

Seventy firefighters fought the blaze. No one was on the site and no livestock were near the plant.

Barrett has worked at the plant for 11 years, most of these on the boning floor. The 30-year-old lives in Te Aroha with his wife Toni with their three children. Their youngest, Elijah, has to be taken frequently to Hamilton to receive treatment for his cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

"It's still quite surreal trying to get the reality of it. I don't know where to start. There's about 350 people, some with kids and a mortgage so it's straight to the emergency benefit for a lot of them. I'm not sure what's going to happen."

Barrett was woken by a text message from a friend just before 4am saying the plant was on fire.

"I was just like, 'is this a joke?' I thought maybe it's just a little fire. Then we got the phone call and they confirmed it so I jumped straight into the van and down to the factory.

"I smelled burned rubber and plastic fumes. That was from the main street - it's about a 4- or 5km drive away."

By the time he arrived the flames had receded but the fire was still blazing.

"There were still flames coming out of the building.

"There were fire engines everywhere and emergency services. They were all over the place."

Barrett said a strange feeling befell the onlookers. "At first everyone just couldn't believe it. It seemed like a dream - or a nightmare. It was just unreal. I left and told a few workmates, it's pretty much all up in smoke, that's pretty much all our jobs gone."

Some of the senior staff were going through emotional extremes, laughing one minute and tearing up the next.

"These people who really put their heart and soul into their job. To me it's like a big family. There's a lot of the old guys who have been there for 25 or 30 years. It must be a shock for them. I've been there for 11 years and my brother for 15 years."

His wife Toni also used to work there but left when she became pregnant with Elijah. "It was a pretty scary sight, especially after the coolstore fire in Hamilton," she said.

Once the sun had come up the fire chief took Barrett and some others through. "They showed us the extent of the damage. Apart from a small area everything has just been burned out.

"The panels had fallen off the walls and we could see the meat in the boxes. The boxes were burned and we could see blood dripping down."

He said the financial situation did not look good. "When the plant's going my average pay is $900 or $1000 and we're pretty much struggling on that because our mortgage payments are quite high."

With Christmas approaching, those affected by the fire may be forced to change their plans. "I haven't even thought about Christmas yet. It was looking tight enough even being at work," said Toni.

But the fire hasn't crushed their Christmas spirit. "We're going to put a hangi down so hopefully if there's some leftover steak there we can use that!" said Barrett.

"It's going to affect a lot more than 300 workers. People might lose their houses. This is just worse-case scenario.

"Personally I think out of a bad situation good things will come. The community will pull together in the short term. They'll be planning over the next few days what the next step will be.

"A lot of my workmates are already thinking about looking for a job. For me I see it as a good opportunity to help my wife look after my son because he's pretty full-on.

"The biggest thing of it is there were no fatalities."

Richard Harding, 56, had worked at the plant for eight years. "It means a lot to a lot of people. It's one of the biggest employers in town. A lot of people are thinking about another job. But where is another job? That's the hardest part."

Said Jamie Paku, 23: "There are a lot of people who are going to be in real financial hardship now. They've got mortgages and families."

kieran.nash@hos.co.nz