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A car hitting a fence is blamed for a sulfur fire at a fertilizer plant in Napier this morning.
Fertilizer Ravensdown Co Op. Source: Google Maps
Emergency services were alerted to the Ravensdown fire in Awatoto, just after 2 a.m. today.
Ravensdown CEO Greg Campbell described the incident as “unusual” and said the company was working with police.
“It appears that a car went off the road and went through the fence to our plant and somehow caught fire. So we don’t know how or why that happened. Obviously, the police are conducting an investigation. The fire was put out. by firefighters. No one was injured, very minor damage, “he said.
“I think the car that caught fire started a small sulfur fire.”
He said the fire was minor, caused no structural damage and that the plant would open operations as usual on Monday.
Fire and Emergency NZ said that when the first two teams arrived, they found a fire on the ground floor of the five-story building.
FENZ Central Communications shift manager Mike Wanoa said at the same time that State Highway 51 had to be closed for traffic management as smoke was affecting visibility on the highway.
Wanoa said that when more fire crews arrived, they found the fire to be “well involved.”
“It had spread to sulfur products and to the roof of the building,” he said.
Nine fire trucks responded to the fire, as well as a command unit.
The fire was brought under control around 5:40 a.m. and the crews withdrew from the scene.
Wanoa said police and a fire investigator are checking the site this morning to determine the cause of the fire.
This is not the first time the Ravesndown plant in Napier has caught fire.
In 2016, firefighters had to fight a fire that also involved sulfur.
Firefighters feared a possible explosion while fighting the fire on December 1, 2016.
A fire broke out on a conveyor belt suspended over up to 1000 tons of sulfur in a storage shed at the plant.
It took 60 firefighters with breathing apparatus to control it.
At the time, Area Commander Ken Cooper told RNZ that burning sulfur was difficult to extinguish.
“If it is shaken with water, it turns into a kind of dust and a dust explosion can occur,” he said.
Two firefighters had to be treated at the scene after receiving sulfur dioxide, a highly toxic gas, in their eyes.
Gas is produced when water comes into contact with sulfur.
In rural Awatoto, downwind, five houses had to be evacuated due to toxic gases.
