Two Marlborough sawmills are back in action following fires last month. A fuel bin caught fire at Timberlink New Zealand, off Battys Rd in Blenheim while three fire appliances were called to the Kaituna Sawmill on October 24. Source: Stuff.co.nz
It took firefighters more than four hours to contain the fire at the Kaituna Sawmill, north of Renwick.
A hazardous materials unit had to be called in from Nelson to set up safety precautions because chemicals were present.
The sawmill was owned by Nelson Forests Ltd. The company’s managing director Lees Seymour said the fire was caused by a welding operation in which droplets of molten metal came into contact with wood.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Seymour said.
It was a system outage, not human error, he said.
There was superficial damage to the shell of the building, but no product or vegetation was damaged and no staff were injured, Seymour said. The chemicals, which prompted the hazardous materials unit were used for wood treatment.
“They were all contained. It was basically precautionary,” he said.
The sawmill lost half a day’s work from the fire, though restoring the building took longer, he said.
“We were pretty lucky … it was pretty minor all up, really.”
The management team had reviewed their systems and were putting improvements in place, he said.
The fire at Timberlink started in a fuel bin and reached a removable shavings bin. Fire appliances from Renwick, Picton, Woodbourne and Blenheim were called to put out the fire and it took them more than six hours.
Marlborough Airport was closed while the airport’s fire crew helped to put out the fire. Timberlink New Zealand Blenheim mill general manager Romon Spiers said damage from the fire was minimal. No staff were hurt and the mill was trading as usual.
Timberlink was investigating the cause of the fire.
