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Police have cordoned off Matipo St, Riccarton, Christchurch as five fire crews deal with a shipping container hanging over LPG cylinders at a Kiwirail depot. NZ Herald photo by Hamish Clark
A shipping container hanging “dangerously” over bulk LPG cylinders at a KiwiRail depot in Christchurch has attracted most of the city’s firefighters as they try to deal with the risk of explosion.
Five fire crews and around 30 firefighters meet at the KiwiRail container yard on Matipo St, Riccarton, Christchurch.
Christchurch Fire and Emergency Shift Manager Riwai Grace says they are not sure what happened this morning to cause the dangerous repositioning of the container, but are evaluating how to correct it after arriving at 8.40am
“We sent a couple of appliances and they arrived at 8.40am and they noticed a container in a pretty dangerous state. At the moment, our crews are all on hold.
“They are communicating with the property owners about how they are going to handle this. So we have five fire trucks, our command unit, our hazardous materials unit and an area commander on the scene right now.
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“They are just putting together the best plan of action so it doesn’t fall apart. We have the help of the police.
“A stack of shipping containers and one of them is in a position where they could fall over, so it’s not seated properly. You know how you see them at four or five high. So one of them is not seated properly and if it falls it’s going to land on some bulk LPG cylinders, that’s the problem. “
There are only eight paid fire crews in Christchurch and five of them are in the KiwiRail yards, so volunteer firefighters have been called in to take on other firefighting jobs in the city.
“There are about 30 firefighters on the scene right now,” Grace said.
“The good thing is that we are early and crossed fingers will not fall and the teams will not have to do much, but as a precaution we have everyone there and are working on the best plan of attack with the site owners on how to fix the problem.
“It is part of the KiwiRail container terminal in Christchurch.
“They will take the proper precautions on site for their own safety while they come up with the best plan of attack on how they will stabilize the container hanging overhead.”
MORE TO COME
