Otaki fire blamed on arsonist

A fire that gutted one of Otaki's biggest businesses and New Zealand's biggest plastic recyclers yesterday was suspicious, police say.

Pacific Plastics Limited's plastic pipes and sheeting factory went up in flames from about 4am yesterday.

Police and fire investigators spent yesterday looking into the damage and have now issued a statement saying the fire was suspicious.

The business says it will need help from the local council if it is to keep its 35-staff business afloat while it rebuilds its factory.

Staff and management were to meet this morning to discuss plans for the coming months, with it expected to take up to six months to rebuild the factory and source replacement machinery from overseas.

Plant general manager John Cribb said the company could not afford to lose contracts as it waited for the rebuilding and needed somewhere to store the tonnes of plastic bottles and bags it collects from around the country.

The company would ask the local Kapiti Coast District council for some land to store its plastic on while the expected $2 million building project was completed.

The company has two other factories in the town but they are neither suitable or big enough to take over the destroyed factory's production.

At the height of the blaze yesterday, 15 fire appliances and 50 firefighters battled the flames and a health warning was put in place for nearby residents to protect themselves from the smoke and fumes.

Otaki MP Darren Hughes said if the fire was arson, it would be particularly sad for the town "because in 1995 we had the terrible arson of the Rangiatea Church in Otaki, and that was a very painful event for the community."

The historic Anglican church, which went back to the very early days of European settlement in New Zealand, was rebuilt and reopened two years ago.

"That was a very sad arson and if this an arson as well, Otaki's had more than its fair share of these things and it disrupts a lot of people's lives," Mr Hughes said.

- NZPA