Buildings lacking water at risk: Fire chief

Graeme Easton

Large rural cool store and packhouse complexes in the Bay of Plenty are at risk of being destroyed by fire because of inadequate water supplies.

Fire service Bay of Plenty coast assistant area manager Graeme Easton said he had "grave concerns" that inadequate water would result in a total loss of property.

Lessons learned from the 2008 Tamahere cool store fire which killed one firefighter and injured seven others were behind Mr Easton's comments to a recent meeting of the Western Bay Rural Fire Authority.

Mr Easton said a number of building consents were coming through for very large kiwifruit cool stores and pack houses in rural areas.

"These building complexes were becoming so large that the Fire Service had grave concerns that with inadequate provision of water supplies for fire fighting, the result would be a total loss of property, or an even worse situation."'

He called on the Western Bay District Council to work with them to find suitable solutions.

Mr Easton voiced his concerns at the last meeting of the authority, with a further written report due to be tabled at today's meeting.

His report said the Fire Service was working with owners to address concerns. He cited a rural Te Puke pack house and cool store complex which the Fire Service said had inadequate water supplies.

He said there was the potential to collect rainwater off roofs and store in a dam, although two million litres would only be enough for two hours of firefighting.

The Fire Service wants the council to consider adopting a code of practice that particularly focused on fires in rural buildings larger than 1000sq m.

"If the council adopted this, there would be huge implications with regard to infrastructure in rural areas ... huge quantities of water were required in the event of a significant fire," his report said.

The Fire Service was aware that adopting a code of practice was likely to be unaffordable for the council.

Gary Allis, the council's group manager for infrastructure services, confirmed that adopting a code of practice would be unaffordable due to reticulation costs and potential implications for the District Plan.

The Western Bay's principal rural fire office Alan Pearce told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday that the responsibility to provide water for fire fighting lay with the person who chose to create the building in a rural area.

It was not up to council to supply water on an as-required basis, he said.