Tuesday, 16 October 2018 10:55

Business as usual following fire

Written by 
The rubber conveyor belt was responsible for bulk of the smoke. The rubber conveyor belt was responsible for bulk of the smoke.

Fertiliser co-op Ravensdown says it has good stocks of finished fertiliser products despite a massive fire at its Hornby site last week.

Customers have resumed collecting fertiliser from the 14ha site; the fire affected the eastern end.

Ravensdown chief executive Greg Campbell says product quality has not suffered, ‘although in the initial restart of service customers could expect some congestion on the site”.

The fire appears to have started during maintenance work and spread along the roof line when a rubber conveyor belt ignited. 

“The rubber belt helped spread the fire through the roofs of the four store buildings and caused the black smoke seen across the city,” says Campbell. 

“The buildings affected were of new fibreglass construction and did not contain asbestos. The cladding responded as it should, allowing emergency services to put the fire out quickly and safely from outside the building.”

The fire only affected building materials and conveyor structures. Ravensdown does not store explosive materials in any of their manufacturing plants. The two small bangs heard were likely exploding gas bottles used during the maintenance work. 

More like this

A significant fertiliser breakthrough?

Former ACT MP and Federated Farmers president Owen Jennings believes he's come across a new fertilising method in Australia that yields "outstanding results".

Fert use tumbles as prices spike

Fertiliser use in New Zealand over the 18 months is about 25% down from what it consistently was for the previous decade or more, says Ravensdown chief operating officer Mike Whitty.

Featured

Feds make case for rural bank lending probe

Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.

National

Canada's flagrant dishonesty

Deeply cynical and completely illogical. That's how Kimberly Crewther, the executive director of DCANZ is describing the Canadian government's flagrant…

Regional leader award

Eastern Bay of Plenty farmer Rebecca O’Brien was named the 2024 Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) Regional Leader of the Year.

Machinery & Products

Tractor, harvester IT comes of age

Over the last halfdecade, digital technology has appeared to be the “must-have” for tractor and machinery companies, who believe that…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Substitute for cow's milk?

OPINION: Scientists claim to have found a new way to make a substitute for cow's milk that could have a…

Breathalyser for cows

OPINION: The Irish have come up with a novel way to measure cow belching, which is said to account for…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter