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Court action could be needed to resolve who pays the bill for fighting Hamilton's fatal Icepak coolstore fire in April.
Local Tamahere residents and fire service insiders have speculated that Waikato District Council is going to receive a "very significant" bill from the New Zealand Fire Service for the cost of fighting fire, which killed Hamilton Senior Station Officer Derek Lovell and seriously injured seven of his colleagues.
The Waikato Times today reported the council could be billed as much as $2.2 million as principal rural fire authority for the district.
The council said it would go to court to fight any move to lump it with the costs.
Council chief executive Gavin Ion confirmed they had been in talks with the fire service about potential costs but said no bill had been received.
The original amount floated by the fire service was $400,000, Mr Ion said. That was later drastically reduced to $20,000.
But Mr Ion said the council was not prepared "to pay a cent" towards the fire service's costs in fighting the fire and would take its case all the way to court.
"At the moment we wouldn't accept liability for the fire. We don't believe it should be oncharged to us and a legal argument would have to be sorted out in court," he told the Waikato Times.
He said he had heard "some significant figures" rumoured to have been charged to the council, but had not heard the $2.2 million.
"My understanding of it is it's the total cost of the fire suppression effort including fire engines... I imagine they were of a significant cost and were destroyed. But I imagine they have insurance."
Fire service spokesman Scott Sargentina said a replacement, fully kitted-out fire engine cost $700,000.
He said they had told the council that if there were charges that could be passed on, they would be.
Mr Ion said any charges in relation to fighting the fire came under its obligations as the principal rural fire authority for the district, rather than any other responsibilities or correspondence it had with Icepak.
"It's in a rural area and we are the rural fire authority."
Tamahere resident Arnold Koppens said he had been told the bill was as high as $2.2 million.
However, ward councillor Wally Hayes said the figure was simply "hearsay and rumour".
- NZPA
