FOOD WORKS GUTTED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31188, 12 October 1966, Page 1

FOOD WORKS GUTTED

Heavy Damage To Plant

Fire gutted the factory of the Sanitarium Health Food Company, at Langdons road, Papanui, yesterday afternoon.

Damage was estimated at “possibly hundreds of thousands of pounds, most certainly many tens of thousands,” by the New Zealand manager of the company (Mr K. H. Adair).

Within minutes of the outbreak and seconds after the workers had been evacuated, flames covered the whole of the roof of the 300 ft by 60ft two-storey factory section. Fifteen minutes later the roof collapsed.

None of the workers—about 100— was injured.

The heat was so intense that two large aluminium doors on the first floor melted.

Properties downwind of the fire were enveloped in billowing inky smoke.

Within 15 minutes of the outbreak householders a quarter of a mile from the factory, could hear the muffled popping as roof and wall materials exploded under the heat.

At 3.20 p.m. a 20ft wall of wild, orange flame stood along the length of the roof. This display was subdued by the fire hoses which were beginning to bear. The heat of the fire could be felt by the spectators standing in Chapel street, about 150 yards from the building. Housewives, men who were at home, and children coming home from school watched. Scores of cars were parked on the verges of the roads adjacent to the fire as sightseers streamed into Papanui. Traffic officers on motorcycles closed some of the roads and retained order. The factory section, part of

which was built many years ago, had a brick outer wall with wooden floors. In parts the fire broke through the wooden floors and burned the ground-floor ceiling. Along the 300 ft frontage of the older section a cafeteria, laboratory and amenities block about 20ft deep has recently been built. That section was only slightly damaged. The Mannite plant at the factory, which was gutted, and its ancillary plant were estimated to be worth £45,000. The plant was the only one of its kind the company operated in New Zealand. Large Oven A large horizontal oven, more than 70ft in length, part of the Weetbix production line, was worth £20,000. The whole of the line, including that inside a new five-storey processing tower, was destroyed. The fire began at the northern end of the factory where peanuts were cooked. In the cooking process gas jets were used to heat an oil which transferred the heat to trays of oil containing peanuts.

An engineer had been experimenting with a heat transfer oil to find whether it was suitable, when the oil boiled over and was ignited by a gas jet, Mr Adair said. “The flash flame then shot upward setting alight the wooden sarking beneath the roof.

“The engineer gave the alarm and tried to put the fire out with extinguishers but was unsuccessful,” Mr Adair said. A large bulk store and grain silos at the southern end of the building suffered no apparent damage. Other Plans Within half an hour of the outbreak arrangements had been made for the company’s two other factories, at Palmerston North and Auckland, to increase production of Weetbix and other lines manufactured.

There may be some difficulty with Mannite supplies in some sizes but the company has stocks throughout the country on which it can draw.

Today it is planned to begin salvaging equipment and whatever stock can be salvaged by factory staff. Mr M. A. Butler, who was recently appointed manager of the factory, said that the chief contractor for the renovations which included the Weetbix production tower and the new frontage had only just finished the job. “A plasterer was still working on the additions.” Alarm System The contractor for the fire alarm system was working in the building when the fire broke out. He had installed the equipment in the section used for cooking peanuts and was working in another section of the building. Mr Butler said he did not know whether the part of the system which had been installed was operating at the time of the outbreak.

Although not the biggest plant belonging to the company, it was the most diversified. Some of the lines were manufactured only in Christchurch.