Firefighters work in asbestos rain

DON SCOTT/The Press

GUTTED: Police and fire safety officers investigate a carpark where at least one of the fires in Rangiora is believed to have started - two shops were destroyed in the blaze.

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Firefighters were showered with asbestos as they battled a fire in Rangiora that gutted two shops.

The area where the fire started early yesterday - a carpark behind the North Canterbury town's war memorial - was cordoned as police and fire safety officers investigated the fire they believe may have been deliberately lit.

Rangiora chief fire officer Ross Ditmer said seven appliances from Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Woodend and Christchurch battled the blaze that took about an hour to contain.

"The main problem was the asbestos in the roof of the building.

"At one stage, with the heat of the fire, the asbestos was exploding and the fire officers were showered with it. We had to be careful how we attacked it."

Asbestos, a fibrous material widely used in industry and construction until the 1980s, is known to cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

He said firefighters wore breathing apparatus and stood upwind from the fire to avoid inhaling the toxic material.

No firefighters were injured as a result of the asbestos, however one firefighter sprained an ankle standing in a pothole.

Two shops were extensively damaged in the fire, as well as the building itself, Ditmer said.

Several fires had been deliberately lit in the area in recent weeks, but it was not known if they were connected, Ditmer said.

"We have had a lot of malicious fires but no buildings have been set alight until now. They have mainly been grass fires, car fires at the river, whether it's escalated to this or a different event I don't know, but it's certainly concerning."

- © Fairfax NZ News