The site is currently running on a generator for three phase power. Photo / Bevan Conley
The site is currently running on a generator for three phase power. Photo / Bevan Conley
Eastown Timber is slowly getting back to business following a large fire at the site earlier this month.
Managing director James Richardson said he hoped to begin clearing the site in the coming days.
The "insurance and politics" side of things had been dealt with last week.
"Now, priority numberone is getting an asbestos company in to deal with things appropriately. I want to get that tidied away as soon as possible," Richardson said.
"We are using the appropriate specialists, and we're not being cowboy on this at all.
"Once we can see the slab and we know what we're dealing with we might look at putting in a temporary structure and getting some machinery going in that."
Fire ripped through part of the Whanganui East property on March 4 and at the height of the response there were seven appliances and a command unit set up.
Fire trucks came from as far as Palmerston North, Bulls and New Plymouth.
Fragments of building paper from the fire were found to contain asbestos after they were tested by Whanganui Public Health last week.
Richardson said they hadn't come from an Eastown building.
"There is a completely separate company in the red shed but it's on our site and needs cleaning up, so that's what we will be doing.
"They are trying to get up and running again too, and doing some repairs on the building.
If any further debris is found on the surrounding areas it can be collected by calling (06) 343 1401.
While the health risk from the material is very low, Public Health Whanganui recommends avoiding handling it until it can be taken away by professionals.
Red and grey building paper from the fire was found to contain asbestos. Photo / Supplied
Workers had been amazing since the incident and most were back at work, Richardson said.
Outside of the fire, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had also affected staffing levels.
"Everyone is really digging in and getting on with it, though," he said.
"We are currently running on a generator for three-phase power so we can't run all our machinery at once. It's not as efficient as it should be but we are working through it.
"A new switchboard is getting made up so we should be back to full power by the end of the week."
Eastown's plant and paint liner, along with one of its planers, was currently out of action.
"The tool room has gone as well, which is kind of where we had all our IT. We've got a new grinder and we are starting to cut new knives, but it's a big process," Richardson said.
Some work was being temporarily outsourced to another supplier in Levin.
"Obviously outside of employing staff, making sure we don't lose customers is the most important thing."
A new Eastown building would eventually be constructed but they were expecting at least a six-month wait on steel, Richardson said.
"That is really frustrating. We're not looking forward to the delays but they are inevitable, unfortunately.
"We do have some temporary tunnel buildings down the back. I might put one of those on the slab, we'll see."
The retail side of the business had been unaffected by the fire, Richardson said.
"We certainly appreciate the public's support.
"All we want to be doing is making timber. First of all, though, we'll have to build a very large shed."
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand investigation is under way as to how the fire started, but no updates were available yesterday .
