Warehouse inferno cause under investigation

BY MELANIE VERRAN

Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of a fire that gutted a Mt Wellington warehouse and took 80 firefighters to get under control.

The blaze broke out in office supplies company Corporate Consumables’ office and warehouse on Fisher Cres about 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Black smoke billowed from the two-storey building and could be seen from as far as Ardmore in south Auckland.

At least 17 fire appliances attended the scene and police patrols managed the traffic.

Fire safety officer Russell Dickson says a staff member noticed the fire and attempted to put it out with an extinguisher.

"They thought they’d put it out. Everyone went outside and realised the fire was still going and it rapidly spread because of the type of products that were in there," he says.

Computers, printers and other plastics burn black smoke which is like "unburnt fire", Mr Dickson says.

"It’s really flammable smoke and when it reaches ignitable temperature it’s like someone’s standing there with a flame thrower."

He says people need to remember that a powder extinguisher may put out a fire but doesn’t cool it down so there is a risk it will reignite.

Corporate Consumables regional manager John Molyneux says the company wasted no time putting "sensible disaster recovery" in place.

Staff met at another office at 6am on Wednesday morning and by mid-morning were already restocking a new warehouse at Contract Logistics in Highbrook.

"We’re up and running. We’re taking orders, talking to customers and shipping goods," Mr Molyneux says.

"We only lost an hour and a half. We’re quite impressed."

The New Zealand company has warehouses in Wellington and Christchurch.

It owned the building on Fisher Cres but Mr Molyneux says it is too early to say whether or not they will rebuild there.

Stock worth "multi-million dollars" was lost in the inferno.

Mr Molyneux says he’s received messages of sympathy from customers and even some competitors, but other competitors have used it as an opportunity to try to poach their clients.

Firefighters were still dampening out the hot spots on Wednesday morning.

Investigators were hoping to speak to staff and begin their inquiries to find out how it started.

- © Fairfax NZ News