Large blaze in Cromwell recycling shed extinguished overnight

Thursday, 17 February 2022

Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that broke out in a recycling storage shed in Cromwell, Otago.

Eight fire trucks were called to the large fire at a commercial building in McNulty Rd about 4pm on Wednesday.

Efforts had been scaled back by about 9pm on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, a Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) spokesman said the blaze was extinguished by 10pm.

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Two fire investigators were expected to return to the site this morning.

The fire’s location inside the large building, which was “compromised”, and a lack of water sources in the area initially caused delays in extinguishing, Fenz said on Wednesday.

The blaze caused a lot of smoke, Fenz said, and members of the public were urged by the Central Otago District Council to stay out of it and keep doors and windows shut.

CromTrans chief executive Peter Carnahan earlier said the fire broke out in a storage shed where kerbside recycling is consolidated before being moved to a processing facility.

The shed is large enough for two trucks to dump recycling in, he said.

There was recycling inside the shed, and no staff or trucks were in the shed when the fire broke out, Carnahan said.

A subsidiary of CromTrans collects kerbside recycling in Cromwell and Alexandra and takes it to the McNulty Rd site before it is taken for processing.