KEY POINTS:
Firefighters believe they had less than three minutes to smother a blazing fuel tanker in Te Anau this morning before 7000 litres of petrol and diesel would have exploded into an inferno.
Ten houses were evacuated during the incident at the Fiordland town's Caltex service station just after 2.15am.
Te Anau fire chief Graeme Humphries said firefighters managed to smother the flames with foam, but then had to spend two hours pouring water on the truck and trailer unit to cool it down.
No one was hurt in the early-morning emergency as police evacuated nearby houses and paramedics stood by.
Mr Humphries said the tanker driver noticed a small fire between the truck's wheels as he was changing a delivery hose from one tank to another. The truck and trailer unit was carrying 7000 litres of petrol and diesel.
"The fire blew back through the hose and he threw it away," Mr Humphries said.
"By that time his truck was on fire. It was pretty intense and he couldn't get to his fire extinguisher."
Mr Humphries said it was "absolutely lucky" no one had been injured in the incident.
Firefighters used foam to smother the flames in less than 10 minutes and Mr Humphries said one of the fuel tanks had already started to rupture.
"We believe we had less than three minutes (more) before she would have blown," he said.
A window in the service station building, about four metres from the blazing vehicle, had cracked in the heat.
Mr Humphries said fuel from the tanker and trailer had been decanted into the service station's underground tanks after firefighters managed to cool the unit.
The trailer had been taken to a Northern Southland Transport company yard and the tanker was to be winched onto a large transporter that was heading to Te Anau from Invercargill this morning.
Fire safety officers hadn't yet been called in to investigate and the cause of the fire had still to be determined.
Mr Humphries said the cause of the accident was not known. "We've left it up to the company at this stage. I think it's more of a mechanical problem."
A Caltex head office spokesperson in Auckland could not be reached for comment.
Southland regional council Environment Southland sent officers to check for any environmental problems arising from the fire.
But compliance officer Nikki Tarbutt said firefighters had "gone about everything the right way" to minimise any environmental effects.
She said there had been no effect on Lake Te Anau.
A containment system designed to hold runoff from service station courtyards had worked, trapping firefighting foam and water which would be pumped into a tanker and removed.
"It could have been a lot worse. It was a bit of a potential nightmare, but it was all under control," Ms Tarbutt said.
- NZPA
