An early morning fire at Bunnings Warehouse in Porirua was not enough to keep the outlet closed today even though fire fighters had to use breathing equipment and thermal imaging as they tackled the blaze.
Four engines and a command unit attended the fire at the Heriot Drive building supplies outlet at 12.48am this morning.
Porirua senior station officer Trevor Sheehan said they arrived to find the building dense with smoke from a fire that had broken out in the paint mixing area.
”We had to force entry. The place was heavily smoke-logged, and we made entry with thermal imaging cameras and located the fire in the centre of the shop in the paint preparation area.
”We also had to use breathing apparatus. Hell yeah.”
The fire had been largely extinguished by the sprinkler system when the fire service arrived, Mr Sheehan said.
”There were some small areas we extinguished with a hose reel.”
While the smoke was dense, the damage from the flames itself was contained to a four-square-metre area, Mr Sheehan said.
A spokeswoman for Bunnings said they were made of tough stuff in Porirua and the shop was ”open for business as usual” today.
Fire safety officers are investigating the cause of the fire.
Dominion Post – Dave Burgess
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