Councils blamed for Christchurch fire

Owaka Rd fire photos

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Justin Lewis Zoom

Digger working on fire, churning up what is still burning.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/ The Press

COSTLY BLAZE: Senior firefighter Geoff Scott directs a hose at a large fire at the Eco Recycling Park in Owaka Rd, Christchurch.

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Failure to enforce resource consents at a sprawling Christchurch recycling park led to a major fire, neighbours say.

Firefighters began fighting the blaze about 6pm on Thursday and have it under control. However, they expect to spend the weekend at the Eco Recycling Park in Owaka Rd, Wigram, and the operation could cost $200,000. Investigators say it is too early to know how the fire started.

The Awatea Residents Association said the Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury (ECan) were to blame because they had not forced the site owners to stop stockpiling large mounds of waste.

It also believes the thick swirling smoke – which could be seen and smelt across much of the city – presents potential health risks.

ECan said yesterday it was too early to analyse the toxicity, but neighbours would have been evacuated if there were health risks.

Association secretary Kay Stieller said consent conditions, including height limits on dumped materials and restrictions on the size of the recycling park, had not been enforced.

The consented area is 6.1 hectares but Stieller said the park covered nearly twice that.

The company had also ignored eight abatement notices to clean up the site, she said.

The city council said steps had been taken to tidy the site.

ECan enforcement team leader Tony Smith said it was too early to say if there were toxins in the smoke being discharged into the air.

No water runoff from the fire appeared to have entered the stormwater system.

Staff were waiting for the fire to be extinguished before starting inspections, he said.

Smith said he could not comment on the association's allegations about consents.

The city council last year bought collapsed waste company Meta for $19.1 million. Meta had a long-term lease on the Owaka Rd site and had to buy out the lease before the council bailed it out.

Christchurch-based Southern Demolition, through its company, Owaka Holdings, now owns and manages the site.

Park manager Toni Williams and managing director Alan Edge spent more than 24 hours helping fire crews tackle the blaze.

A sorting plant and other items had been lost, "but we couldn't put a figure on it yet," Williams said.

"It's not nice; it's horrible."

The company would comment further this weekend. It was not clear if the operation was insured.

City council regulation and democracy services general manager Peter Mitchell denied council inaction contributed to the fire, but admitted it could have handled enforcement issues better.

Deputy chief fire officer Dave Burford said strong winds caused problems.

Five fire engines and several water tankers were being used by crews of up to 35, who were rotated every four hours.

Although the city's firefighting resources were not compromised, Burford admitted they would have been "stretched" if crews had not been able to take thousands of litres of water from a pond.

The park's nearest neighbour, SPCA Canterbury, said there was no threat to its animals.

Fire safety investigator Graeme Reid, who watched the operation yesterday, said his full investigation would wait until the fire was out.

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