By 3 News online staff
Crews have been battling a massive fire in Hawke’s Bay overnight which has destroyed a fruit packaging factory and forced the evacuations of nearby homes.
The blaze broke out around 9pm at Hawk Packaging in Hastings and burned for 200 metres.
Flames could be seen from Napier.
More than 80 firefighters, from as far away as Palmerston North, Dannevirke and Woodville responded to the callout on Tomoana Rd.
“At the moment we’re currently containing the exterior trays, bins and pallets in that 200-metre long length,” Fire Service area commander Chris Nicol said.
“We simply don’t have the water or resources to continue to put the fire out.
We’re just concentrating on the perimeter and allowing the inside of that perimeter to burn out.”
Firefighters were able to prevent the fire spreading into the adjoining industrial estate, however Hawk Packaging has been destroyed.
The company's products are all made from recycled paper - which contributed to the spread of the blaze.
"What caused a major part of the fire was the whole rows, about 100m x 50m stacks of trays - fruit trays, pallets, and fruit bins - all stacked high, and the fire ripped through those," Mr Nicoll says.
"They have now all collapsed and we're just dampening down the perimeter and allowing the interior to burn out, and we'll eventually turn that over and extinguish the whole lot.
"Those were all outside in the open air, and that's what really caused us a great deal of risk - to try and prevent it spreading to other buildings."
Around 75 percent of the building was ablaze by 12:15am.
Mr Nicoll thanked Hawk Packaging staff, who were on the premises when the fire broke out, for their help moving trays and pallets to stop them catching fire.
"It was fortunate they were at work at the time. It certainly made it a lot easier."
About 18 people from six households were evacuated to a nearby school, but all have since returned.
Mr Nicol says it is likely some crews will remain at Hawk Packaging for another 24 hours.
“There’s still a large amount of fire involved and a large amount of hot embers being airborne. There’s still that risk of those embers coming down and catching fire to pallets … so we’re very vigilant in making sure that we don’t get further fires breaking out somewhere else.”
Hawk Packaging also suffered a major fire in October last year.
3 News / RadioLIVE