My Account
News from local fire stations
At the end of last month there was a very big fire in a plastics factory in West Auckland. This was well covered in the news media. Locally, a few days later, in the early hours of the morning there was a large fire in a pack house on Matakana Road between Warkworth and Matakana.
This brings home the reality that ‘big’ fires are not confined to ‘big’ cites. Country areas have their share too, as fire knows neither boundaries nor restriction. In particular, country fires can be even more of a problem due to the distance from backup stations and personnel, and also the lack of reticulated water supplies.
About 14 fire appliances attended the Matakana Road fire, from stations as far afield as Mangawhai and several from Auckland. It included four water tankers from Mahurangi East, Matakana, Silverdale, and Mangawhai, as well as operational support vehicles. The tankers supplied water to the many fire trucks at the scene and then had to depart to refill from distant reticulated water supplies, before returning to the fire scene.
The Ahuroa crew set up portable pumps and drew water from nearby creeks to supplement the water supply. Crews remained at the scene for several hours to first of all put out the fire and then continue damping down hot spots. It is believed the cause of the fire was a fault at the switchboard.
The pack house, offices and chillers were destroyed in the fire and whilst sad, the good news is that no lives were lost – this is not always the case. Any life lost in a fire is one too many. After all, a building can be easily replaced, a life cannot.
On a different note, the Leigh Volunteer Fire Brigade will celebrate 50 years over the weekend of November 18 to 20. All past members are invited to attend. Further to this, the brigade is launching a book, Leigh Volunteer Fire Brigade 50 Years, on Friday October 28 from 5pm, at the Leigh Fire Station.
