'Big dirty job' as plastic fire in Thames burns through night

Friday, 8 March 2019

It was a long night for firefighters who battled until dawn to control a blaze which ripped through plastic bales at a recycling centre.

A fire investigator will look into the cause of the fire at Smart Environmental Ltd, on Paeroa Kopu Rd, near Thames after a marathon effort from about 50 firefighters. 

However, managing director and founder Grahame Christian said the company is fairly sure it was started by a lithium battery.

Crews from Thames, Hamilton, Ngāruawāhia, Tauranga and Whangamatā worked to extinguish the blaze until about 4am on Friday after it ignited on Thursday afternoon. 

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Plumes of thick black smoke from masses of plastic bales had filled the neighbouring area, Thames Chief Fire Officer Greg Randall said. 

Luckily, the fire was in a rural and secluded area, so few households were exposed to the fumes and the building itself has little damage, he said. 

An employee first spotted the fire and tried to put it out while it was small, Christian said.

'It just kept inflaming and inflaming, until it was out of control.'

The Smart Environmental team quickly protected everyone and shut down the site when the flames took hold in a pile of older stock.

When he got the call about the fire, Christian was in Wellington, trying to help the Government find New Zealand-based recycling solutions for these kinds of piles of product.

It's difficult to move, he said, and organisations like his are left holding the plastics labelled 3 to 7 now China has brought in its National Sword programme and stopped taking in 90 per cent of the world's recycling.

Flames also spread to more valuable product at the site, but buildings escaped damage.

When the site manager went back into the fire scene on Friday, two lithium batteries were found, Christian said.

Smart Environmental is pretty sure one of them was the cause, as they're becoming an increasing problem for the industry.

Currently, there's no real disposal point for lithium batteries, Christian said.

When fire crews were first called at 2.30pm, the fire was deep-seated and rapidly growing, Randall said. 

And the area around the recycling centre ended up a 'big steaming mess'.

Fumes from the burning plastic meant crews had to wear breathing apparatus, Randall said, but the wind was favourable. 

He didn't know how many bales of plastic bottles had been destroyed.  

'It was a big dirty job but everybody rolled up their sleeves and dealt to it.' 

If the building had been badly burnt in the fire it could have left about 40 locals without jobs, Randall said. 

But an 'absolutely astounding' effort by volunteers and paid firefighters alike stopped that from happening. 

Christian agreed, saying they were delighted with the fire service - in fact, many employees are current or former members.

The fire was the recycling centre's second in a year, which puzzled him.

'We've had no other fires anywhere else in the country and we have got probably 40 different sites,' he said.

The previous fire broke out on the evening of April 10, 2018, and Christian said it started in a composting operation which was no longer on the site.

Four fire engines and about 20 firefighters were sent to that blaze, which destroyed three industrial buildings and damaged some vehicles.

'The last fire cost me personally more than a million dollars, after insurance,' Christian said, 'because I own the site as well.'

This time around, employees in the parks and reserves team will continue work as usual, but the processing plant will be shut until Monday for a clean up and for the fire investigation.

Smart Environmental also had compliance staff on the site to assist.

Waikato Regional Council staff had attended the scene to ensure water runoff wasn't getting into the waterways.

However, a spokeswoman said the scale and intensity of the fire meant water simply evaporated.

FENZ northern communication shift manager Paul Radden said crews would return to the site on Friday for monitoring. 

No-one was injured and no houses were evacuated.