Otago Daily Times: A South Westland factory that produces one of the raw ingredients for lipstick and other cosmetics has been destroyed by fire. The factory was in a building next to the aircraft landing strip at Neils Beach, near Jackson Bay.
A large engineering workshop, a factory that produces shark oil for cosmetics, and a helicopter base at Neils Beach, Jackson Bay, that were burnt to the ground yesterday will be rebuilt, their owner says.
The buildings were owned by Barn Bay Fishing Company and Greenstone Helicopters owner Geoff Robson.
Yesterday, Mr Robson's son, Michael, said the building was insured and would be rebuilt, although he had not yet had time to work out how shark oil processing would be carried out in the mean time.
The alarm was raised shortly before 9am, but by the time a fire crew arrived from their Haast base, about 50km to the north, the workshop-hanger had been totally destroyed.
Fifteen hundred litres of shark oil, which was destined for Melbourne where it would be used for lipstick, went up in smoke or drained away.
The fire also claimed a Hughes 500 helicopter.
A Neils Beach resident a few hundred metres from the adjacent airstrip got a phone call from the Haast police shortly before 9am to see if they could confirm a fire in the area.
Lynda Hewer said one look out her kitchen window confirmed the building was engulfed in smoke and flames.
The hanger was built to the side of a private airstrip, and the building was about 100m long and 30m wide.
Mrs Hewer described ''absolutely massive black smoke'' and loud bangs as the fire took hold.
Fire crews mop up the twisted metal remains of an aircraft hangar, an engineering workshop and a fish oil factory burnt to the ground at Neils Beach, South Westland, yesterday. Photo/Mark Price
Greymouth police confirmed the building possibly held firearms and ammunition.
Another helicopter, a Robinson 44, which had been used by police in the past couple of days in the search for the missing Greymouth fishermen after a fishing boat tragedy, had apparently not long left the hangar before the fire.
''They've lost their Barn Bay Fishing shed and I understand they've lost a 500,'' Mrs Hewer said. ''It's a big fire for a little place. It's a real shame.''
Mrs Hewer said the fire was a total surprise.
''The first I knew was when the phone went. It was the local policeman. I just looked out the window and there was all this black smoke.''
Mrs Hewer said a Neils Beach resident only known as Colin was lucky to escape the fire as he lived in a hut right next to the workshop complex. He had apparently been oblivious to the fire until Michael Robson burst in, telling him to get out.
''Apparently, he was on his computer, not knowing what was happening.''
Haast volunteer firefighters put out the blaze and dampened down the building remains. Mrs Hewer said it was lucky the fire crew had managed to protect fuel storage tanks at the site by wetting them down.
