Burst sprinkler causes fire call out to toxic substance at Mataura

Sunday, 19 July 2020

Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff outside the old paper mill in Mataura where ouvea premix is stored. The sprinklers in the building burst. The premix releases ammonia gas if it gets wet.

A burst sprinkler on the outside of an old mill where ouvea premix is being stored sent emergency services to the site in Mataura on Sunday.

There were concerns the premix may have been compromised by water. The contentious premix releases ammonia gas if it gets wet.

Mataura Fire chief Neil Rogan said the brigade was called out at 12.03pm and they discovered a sprinkler on the outside of the building had burst because of the frost.

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Some water had seeped inside the building in an area where the ouvea premix was being stored, Rogan said.

“It wasn’t an incredible amount and the premix is double bagged so it wasn't compromised. In saying that, we had to take every precaution.”

There was residual dust inside the building so firefighters blocked the drains to stop any run-off, he said.

The road was closed as it was an operational site and the hazmat team was called in to decontaminate the firefighters as they left the building.

Ammonia gas readings were taken right through the building and came back as zero, Rogan said.

There was no threat to anyone’s safety and no neighbouring properties were evacuated, he said.

Traffic had been directed from Kana St to Doctors Rd. By 3pm the road had since re-opened.

Kana St resident Tenei Turipa said he was walking to the park with his son when he was told to turn back by emergency services.

“I got a bit of a fright. We haven't been told anything, just that there was something wrong inside the mill and the stuff inside got wet or something.”

Turipa lives just along the street from the mill and said the substance being stored inside made him nervous.

Earlier on Sunday, Mataura Community Board chairman Alan Taylor said he was still getting information on the incident.

Taha Asia Pacific stored 10,000 tonnes of the premix in the former paper mill, and another 10,000 in warehouses in Invercargill before it went into liquidation in 2016.

In December the following year, liquidators formally disclaimed the premix, leaving the Government, local councils and landlords to find a solution for its disposal.

People have been vocal about getting the substance out of Mataura and that went into over-drive when the February floods, earlier this year, meant the Mataura River, that runs adjacent to the mill, rose rapidly.

There were concerns then, that the river might breach the mill.

Taylor said traditionally people thought the river might be the culprit in compromising the premix but this latest incident showed anything could happen.

He believed all the parties that were working on getting the premix shifted out of the mill, over a period of years were doing the best they could.