Freezing works fire could cost $6M

Press, 20 April 1979, Page 3

Freezing works fire could cost $6M

PA New Plymouth Executives of Borthwicks C.W.S., Ltd, estimate that the cost of Wednesday night’s big fire at its Waitara plant will run into several million dollars. The works manager (Mi T. Beeby) said yesterday that the replacement value of the damaged part of the works would be between SSM and S6M. The damage was so bad that the plant may not resume full production until towards the end of the the year, according to company officials. Lamb, mutton, and beef valued about $3.4M was stored in the freezers. It is not known how much of this Was destroyed. Health Department and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries officers will determine how much of the meat has been spoiled. The fire began at 9 p.m. in an older wooden part of

the plant and quickly spread to other departments. At the height of the blaze about 10.30 p.m. up to 70 firemen were involved, using appliances from Waitara, New Plymouth, Inglewood, Stratford, and New Plymouth Airport. At 11.45 p.m. a state of emergency was declared when a big ammonia leakage was feared. Residents of 50 nearby houses were moved away.

The leakage did not occur because firemen prevented the fire from reaching the works’ engine-room area. A fire-safety officer of the New Plymouth Fire Brigade, Mr B. A. Hartley, said that he had not yet" determined the cause of the fire. About 300 Waitara freezing workers will be laid off today because of the fire. This is about half the workforce.

Mr Beeby said that about

150 workers would usually have been laid off in about four weeks as the export killing season drew to a close.

The president of the Waitara Freezing Workers’ Union (Mr R. Rodger) said the workers affected would be advised to claim the unemployment benefit. In view of the lack of jobs in the area the laid-off workers would find it hard to make ends meet, he said. At a meeting yesterday morning the men had been very disheartened.

The management had been very good. The matter of lost pay would be studied but the union’s main concern was to keep as many men in work as possible. “With co-operation and luck all workers should resume work by November,” said Mr Rodger. Workers to be laid off would be given priority for positions when normal work resumed.