South Auckland fire: Firefighters enter second day of battling Favona’s Sims Metal yard blaze

Fire and Emergency New Zealand will decide this morning on the next steps of action regarding the Sims Metal yard blaze.

Firefighters have entered the second day of fighting the inferno which started in a pile of scrap car parts at the premises on James Fletcher Dr in Favona.

The cause of the blaze, which sent out plumes of thick black toxic smoke across the city - noticed by residents living 18km away in Maraetai - is yet to be established.

Fire and Emergency crews work to put out the blaze at Sims Metal on James Fletcher Drive in Favona, South Auckland. May 31, 2023. Photo / Alex Burton

A FENZ spokesperson told the Herald there remained only three crews at the site overnight for monitoring.

And a decision by FENZ staff was to be made this morning.

The cause of the fire was not yet established, the FENZ spokesperson said.

”It was something in the pile. We are unsure of whether it was suspicious at this stage. Fire investigators are not at the site anymore.”

This was the ninth fire in the past five years at the exact location, and a nearby business owner who experienced a significant trade disruption yesterday wants the site to be investigated.

One local business owner called the recurring fires “inexcusable”, telling the Herald Sims Metals ought to be investigated for any issues. Auckland Council said it would review any issues which may have caused the fire.

Firefighters battled a blaze in a pile of scrap metal at a yard in South Auckland's Favona. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) district manager Brad Mosby said they had responded to nine fires, including yesterday’s, at Sims Metals since November 2017.

“Four of these required firefighting activities, two of which were scrap metal pile fires in 2018 and 2021.”

More than 80 firefighters tackled an out-on-control blaze “as high as warehouses” at the scrap yard on March 7, 2018.

Fenz incident controller Phil Larcombe told 1News the recurring fires were “not good enough”.

“We’ve been working with management over the years to put better systems in place,” Larcombe said.

Today Sims Metal confirmed to the Herald that in the past five years, there had been a couple of fires; one in 2017 and one in 2018.

“The fire in 2017 was an electrical fire in a piece of equipment, which was extinguished quickly by our team onsite,” a company spokesperson said.

“We train them extensively in this regard. The other fire was in 2018, and it was similar in nature to the fire that occurred yesterday. FENZ attended that fire, and it was also extinguished quickly.”

Sims Metal chief operating officer APAC David Burrows said the fire at the James Fletcher Dr location had been “successfully extinguished” as of 2.20am.

“Our team worked collaboratively with Fire Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) throughout the day and evening to significantly reduce the material infeed pile, separating and exposing the incendiary material to mitigate further ignition.

“FENZ is winding down its response but will remain on site until daylight hours to conduct a final assessment. Our team is beginning clean-up efforts onsite and James Fletcher Road has been re-opened to traffic.”

The company thanked FENZ for its “quick and diligent” response to the incident, Burrows said.

“Across our global operation, Sims Metal works collaboratively with local fire departments and fire detection firms to ensure our control measures in fire prevention and methods for response continually improve with new technologies.

“Over the past year, Sims Metal has partnered with fire detection firms to trial state-of-the-art, machine-learning early detection warning systems to control fire risk.”

Speaking about the disruption caused to businesses and local community, Burrows said he thanked them for their patience as emergency services ensured the fire had been extinguished in a safe and efficient manner.

“Once again, we sincerely apologise for the concern, disruption and inconvenience this incident has caused our community neighbours.

“Our after-action investigation will begin immediately, and we will also review our protocols to determine the appropriate actions needed to mitigate the possibility of a future recurrence.”

Smoke billows from a fire at a metal recycling depot in Favona. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland Council’s general manager of licensing and regulatory compliance Mervyn Chetty said council officers were working alongside Fenz to assess any environmental damage and health risks caused.

Chetty said there were moderate to high risks associated with scrap metal yards and they were not allowed to discharge any contaminants into the land, water or air.

“Scrap yards serve a purpose; however, site owners must take their responsibilities seriously, around storing, stockpiling and managing this material.

“In a fire such as this one, Auckland Council will work with partner agencies such as Fire and Emergency and the site itself to review procedures that may have led to the cause.”

Firefighters were using three hoses to douse the fire from two ladders, one unmanned, about midday.

Two claw excavators were moving scrap as the fire continued to burn and metal shredding machinery and conveyor belts were still operating.

Piles of scrap metal were being separated out to make them smaller and easier to extinguish faster, Fenz assistant area commander for Waitematā Garry Lane said.

“It is a really big pile, [the smoke is] 10m high,” Lane said.

Mosby said the wind shifted about 10am and smoke began moving north over Greenlane, Ellerslie, Mt Wellington and Penrose.

One resident living 8km from the scene, Jo Robertson, said the smell of smoke woke her and her husband about 2.30am.

“We went to all the rooms, around the house, and outside we couldn’t find anything on fire. But the smell was very strong. I had to turn the air filter off.”