Starch Factory Explosion

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30958, 14 January 1966, Page 10

Starch Factory Explosion

\ sudden explosion in the flour-drying room of Starch Products Ltd.. Ferry road, about 11.35 p.m. yesterday sent four workmen scampering for cover. Within seconds a large ™ ™»f fhe roof was abl»» after the flash explosion in a dust-extracting machine at the factory.

The blaze was intense but | short-lived, and two units from the Woolston Fire Brigade. which were quickly on the scene, had the fire under control only minutes after they arrived. By midnight a smouldering mass of soggy flour bags, and charred machinery and walls were all that showed there had been an explosion. The manager of the company (Mr T. Waltenberg) said preliminary inspection showed that there was quite a lot of damage in the three rooms in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, but most of the damage was caused by water. Some of the machines appeared to be out of order, and the dust extractor was out of action. One of the men working at the machine at the time, said the explosion came completely without warning. “We were working at the machine, when there was a sudden flash and then flames

shot up the chute, and tl roof was suddenly ablaze." I said. “We just droppi everything and got out

there as fast as we cou move.”

Men working night shift al the factory faced the job of attempting to clean up the mess by lights which were rigged up in the damaged parts of the building. Mr Waltenberg said that production would be held up only for as long as it would take to clean up the mess, and get the machines back in working order. He hoped that work would be back to normal within a few days.