Refinery investigates fire which burned worker

The fire was on a decommissioned platformer unit at the Marsden Pt oil refinery. Photo / Tania Whyte

A man injured in a fire while doing demolition work at Marsden Pt oil refinery remained in Whangarei Hospital yesterday.

It was the second day he had spent in hospital after being burned on the arm by a fire at the Refining NZ plant about 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Refining NZ communications and external affairs manager Greg McNeill said there was a fire on a decommissioned platformer unit at the refinery.

He was not sure how many people had been working in the area or how the fire started.

Determining what sparked the blaze would be part of an investigation to be carried out by the refinery's incident management team.

Mr McNeill said the fire was quickly contained and extinguished by a specialist emergency services team based on site.

"The emergency services team is trained medically as well. The injured person was attended to and the fire contained within minutes," Mr McNeill said.

"Having a team on site means they can contain things very quickly before they get out of hand."