Volunteers give firefighters bumper breakfast
Locals continue to band together in the wake of the Icepak Coolstore disastrous explosion and fire. Dozens have volunteered their help to feed emergency services around the clock. The Tamahere Hall is the hub of the operation, offering something hot to eat or drink and a place to shower.
Hall committee chairman Andrew Gibson said the hall, built in 2006, had stood up to its first real test.
On Saturday night, Tamahere woman Liz Witehira realised a hangi for the school%26#39;s Pumpkin Night Gala was untouched because visitors were evacuated after the blast in the afternoon.
Helped by the Cambridge Lions, the community put the food to good use, feeding at least 130 emergency services workers at the fire that night.
%26quot;What was misfortune for the school was turned into help for the disaster,%26quot; she said. %26quot;Since then people have been delivering cakes, turning up offering to help - it%26#39;s been excellent.%26quot;
About 100 members of the Tamahere community had dropped in and %26quot;the firefighters seem grateful%26quot;.
The Salvation Army has been at the hall since Sunday morning. Army spokesperson Brian Smith said community support had been overwhelming.
%26quot;It%26#39;s been a tremendous response,%26quot; he said. He expected Salvation Army helpers would remain at the hall today and possibly tomorrow.
At 6.30am today, 14 firefighters and six vehicles were at the fire-ravaged coolstore. Fourteen fresh firefighters were due to arrive at 8am. Taupo Station Officer Al Green said overnight, with the help of contractors, they had removed parts of the building not crucial to the investigation to damp down hot spots.
Last night Assistant Western Fire Region Commander (Fire Safety) Mitchell Brown said an investigation team from national headquarters would begin a cause and origin determination today.
Investigations would also be carried out by Department of Labour, the coroner, a building investigation for insurance purposes and also into the product that was inside the building.
Once the fire was out and there was no further risk of fire or run-off from hazardous substances, the final clean up of the coolstore would be an issue for the building owner.
