Criticism over response to fire

The Fire Service is rejecting criticism from a firefighters union over its response to a $7 million fire in a south Auckland warehouse last night.

The fire, which began shortly before 5pm, destroyed the two-storey Corporate Consumables warehouse in Mt Wellington.

A fire safety officer told NZPA insurance assessors believed the bill for the fire, which destroyed office supplies as well as the building, would top $7m.

At its height 80 firefighters and 20 fire appliances fought the blaze but the firefighters' union said initially only two appliances with eight firefighters were sent and that was not enough.

Professional Firefighters' Union president Jeff McCulloch said there were also delays in sending appliances with aerial ladders.

However, Fire Service regional commander, Brian Butt, said the response was standard throughout the country.

He said the first firefighters to arrive did a magnificent job but the building was doomed because of the highly combustible material inside, and there being no sprinklers.

But Mr McCulloch said the fire was an example of what the union had been fearing for some time - an inadequate response which led to a significant loss.

The Fire Service had refused to listen to union pleas to change its policy and send at least three appliances to property fires at the first call.

Mr McCulloch said the delays in sending specialist appliances significantly contributed to the overall loss of property.

He said it was no wonder firefighters had little chance to save the building.

Yesterday's blaze came days after the Fire Service put on hold plans to further reduce responses to incidents in buildings.

Mr McCulloch said he wondered how long it would be before there was another serious loss of property or "even worse - a loss of life".

Mr Butt said the union criticism was well off the mark.

Fire Safety officer Russell Dickson said there was nothing suspicious about the fire and electrical experts would look at several items.

The building did not have a sprinkler system which would have contained the fire to a small area and would have stopped it spreading rapidly.

He said people in the building who tried to fight the blaze with dry powder fire extinguishers, would have been better to have used a hose reel which was within reach.

- NZPA