Blenheim firefighters use forklift to gain entry into a blazing waste sorting centre
Monday, 14 January 2019
A fire that could have been 'bubbling away for days' inside Blenheim's Waste Sorting Centre is now under control.
The fire was discovered in the centre on Monday morning and was found to have affected the centre's general waste, wood and cardboard.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand attended to the fire at 5.30am after smoke was spotted billowing from the building.
Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief officer Nigel Botham said three Blenheim fire engines and one Renwick fire engine attended the scene.
He said officers had to force entry into the building, which proved 'difficult'.
'A roller door was destroyed with a forklift to ventilate the area and provide a larger avenue of entry,' he said.
'There was a lot of smoke and heat. It's a big area and there was zero visibility.'
Debris in the centre had to be spread out with a front loader to extinguish the blaze, which 'took a while', he said.
'The fire was fairly isolated, but there was quite a bit of heat damage. It could have been a lot worse if there was more fuel,' Botham said.
'We pretty much had to destroy the scene to put the fire out.'
The blaze took fire officers about 40 minutes to extinguish, he said. A clean up was now under way.
'It was good work from all of our crews, it was a great team effort,' Botham said.
He said there was 'no suspicion whatsoever' about the cause of the blaze, as the facility centre was 'very secure'.
The fire was caught sparking to life about 3.30am on the centre's security cameras in a skip in the middle of the facility, two hours before emergency services arrived, Botham said.
It then spread between two skips, side by side, one full of wood and one full of general rubbish, which were in the process of being recycled, he said.
'It could have been bubbling away for days. We'll never know the cause, unfortunately,' he said.
'It's probably lucky it doesn't happen very often. People need to be wise about what they put in the rubbish.'
The building's structural integrity would now need to be checked, Botham said.
Marlborough District Council's solid waste manager Alec McNeil said it was likely the sorting centre would be closed until Tuesday.
'We still have some work to do to ensure the electrical system is fully safe and secure. Once that is completed, we can reopen,' he said.
'The upper level outside bins will be closed today. Customers should delay bringing in waste for sorting. The recycling service is open as normal.'
A media statement released by the council said hazardous waste at the centre was not affected by the fire.
It said information on what caused the fire would be made available to the public once an investigation was completed.