Photos of the huge blaze
Video: Coolstore fire burningKEY POINTS:
The family of veteran firefighter Derek Lovell, killed when a Hamilton coolstore exploded on Saturday, is working with fire officials on how he is to be farewelled.
A funeral to honour and commemorate Mr Lovell's life was expected to be held on Friday, Waikato fire region deputy commander Roy Breeze told reporters in Hamilton today.
"Firefighters close to the family will work with the family to find out what their needs are, which is the most important thing to us."
Of the firemen who remained hospitalised from the fire Merv Neil was the most critical, with 71 per cent burns to his body, Mr Breeze said.
He was to today have further surgery in Middlemore Hospital, South Auckland.
While he was making progress the nature of his injuries meant it was difficult to know how his recovery would go, Mr Breeze said.
Brian Halford remained in critical condition in intensive care unit at Waikato Hospital.
Dennis Wells, Adrian Brown and Alvin Walker were all recovering and had been downgraded from the high dependency unit at Waikato Hospital.
Dave Beanland was also recovering well at the hospital's open ward, he said.
Mr Breeze said fire safety officers, insurance assessors and staff from Environment Waikato met at the site of the fire this morning to determine how to move forward.
"They will be discussing whether heavy machinery will be bought in to open it up so we can extinguish it properly."
The fire was still burning and decisions needed to be made as to how best to put it out, he said.
"One of the problems is that we simply can't get into one of the areas that's burning."
It was a large area and crews had worked throughout the night spraying it to keep it under control, he said.
"Our main priority is to just reduce the smoke levels for the neighbours."
Mr Breeze said firefighters were only just starting to come to grips with the fire and death of a friend and colleague.
"We're just trying really hard to work out where we go from here."
The response from the community had been fantastic, Mr Breeze said.
"We're quite a tight knit group and I'm confident everyone's going to look after each other."
The public could help, he said.
"Just be careful for a while, we'd prefer not to have to come out to you."
Mr Breeze said firefighters coped with the situation because that was their job.
"One of skills of being an emergency worker is to be able to cut off the emotion and treat it like a procedural thing."
Counselling was being offered to all staff and firefighters and the families of those injured, he said.
In an emotional tribute, recruits from the National Training Centre - due to graduate on Thursday - paid a minute's silence outside the station this morning, many choking back tears.
Three of those will be assigned to the Hamilton station in the next two weeks.
National Training Centre manager Geoff Purcell told reporters the recruits wanted to pay their respects to their "brothers" and in particular Mr Lovell.
"They'll be visiting the firesite on the way home and that's so they get an appreciation of the scale and magnitude of this incident and the sad consequences."
Mr Purcell said he had started his career with the fire service the same day as Mr Lovell, 25 years ago.
Both were meant to attend a 25th anniversary dinner in Auckland on Saturday night. Mr Lovell never got there.
"We were in Auckland on Saturday night awaiting Derek's arrival and had reports come through in the night that there was an incident on in Hamilton and Derek was involved.
"Sadly later that night we found out Derek didn't make it."
Mr Lovell was well respected, as were the injured firefighters, he said.
"We're a big family, a big brotherhood and we're there for one another and their families."
National Party leader John Key met with firefighters at the Hamilton Fire Station this morning before spending a few minutes looking at the growing number of floral tributes outside the station.
Mr Key, who had had an appointment in Hamilton organised before the explosion on Saturday, said he wanted to pay his respects and pay his condolences to the firefighters.
"Every New Zealander feels for them and it's sort of soul destroying that they're trying to deal with a very difficult fire."
- NZPA
Hamilton firefighters have started an appeal for the families of the firemen injured in Saturday's explosion.
Colin Irvine from the Hamilton Fire brigade said the some of the firefighters could be off the trucks for a long time and the money given would go to their families.
"They need some support," Mr Irvine said.
Mr Irvine said money could be donated at any Westpac Branch. The account number is: 03 0318087937700
