‘Probable cause of blaze’

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 8

‘Probable cause of blaze’

PA Wellington The 1.C.1. chemical fire was probably caused by heat from a chemical reaction between granulated pool chlorine and a contaminant, possibly oil from forklift trucks, according to a report released yesterday. The fire was first spotted by two employees who saw flames coming from a pallet which contained a damaged pail of chlorine. The pallet had been moved after a spill as preparations were made for the firm’s Christmas party in the warehouse, the report said.

Soon after, an employee in the cafeteria on the mezzanine floor saw fire coming from the pallet on the ground floor. He shouted “fire,” grabbed a small dry powder extinguisher from the cafe-

teria, and unsuccessfully attempted to put the fire out. He then ran upstairs where he passed a cleaning contractor, Mr Graeme Plummer, who was carrying a water-based fire extinguisher. He urged Mr Plummer to leave and made his escape from another stairway. As he did he saw the fire flare up. Another employee who spotted the fire from the cafeteria went downstairs to look for another extinguisher. But he realised it would be useless to try to extinguish the blaze as it was rapidly spreading, and left the building. The warehouse manager and another employee also left the mezzanine by another stairway with the manager pressing a manual fire alarm on his way out. The report said when the

fire broke out other employees were in the showers. One discovered the fire when they went to investigate why the lights had gone out. They had not heard the alarm. They escaped through a window in the ablutions block.

Meanwhile, Mr Plummer had attempted to extinguish the fire. The report says what actually happened could not be determined but it was assumed that when he used the water-based extinguisher the water came into contact with an intensely hot chemical fire and caused a violent reaction, possibly creating the flash fire reported by other employees. That could have produced the hot toxic gases which injured his lungs and also caused some of the burns he

suffered to more than 40 per cent of the body, it said. Those injuries would have caused him to become confused and disorientated and contributed to his difficulty in escaping.

It was also believed that his fear of heights prevented his jumping from the first-floor window, prolonging his exposure to the fire, fumes ana smoke.

The report praises another employee who drove a forklift vehicle and punctured the manager’s office on the mezzaine floor allowing Mr Plummer to escape by climbing on to a pallet carried by the forklift which was then lowered to the ground.

Mr Plummer died in hospital some weeks later as a result of his injuries.