Probe after blaze hits car wreckers

Workers at a car wreckers are waiting to hear when they can get back to work after a massive blaze engulfed a warehouse building and sent fireballs and plumes of smoke into the sky.

The fire started at Cash 4 Cars in Palmerston North at about 11.55am on August 18 and fire crews were at the scene for nearly eight hours.

A spokesman from the business in Keith Street told Autofile Online on August 19 that no one was seriously hurt in the incident and dozens of vehicles on the yard appeared to have escaped damage.

“We can’t get into the yard at the moment,” he says. “We’re waiting for the fire investigators to let us know when we can get in and clean up the property.

“It was just the warehouse that got damaged in the fire and there were a couple of vehicles inside when the fire started.”

The 50-metre-by-50m corrugated iron building was left a mangled heap after the blaze. Fire officers say fuel cannisters, LPG cylinders and oxygen cylinders in the warehouse exploded and a fireball erupted through the roof during the drama.

Black smoke could be seen across the city at the height of the incident, which was attended by eight fire crews. 

One person was taken to Palmerston North Hospital with moderate injuries, a St John spokeswoman said. 

An eyewitness told Radio New Zealand a small fire had started in the building but before he and Cash 4 Cars staff could put it out the flames reached an LPG tank nearby, causing an explosion and from there the fire quickly spread.

Fire investigators are examining the cause of the blaze.

Cash 4 Cars has been operating as a wrecker of cars, utes, vans, buses and trucks in Palmerston North for about 10 years and covers most of the lower North Island.