Click photo to enlarge
Firefighters extinguish the fire in a shed on Clarke's Farm
yesterday. Photo by Rachel Taylor.
A farm contractor was injured in a fire yesterday while
performing maintenance work on Clarke's Farm, in Clarke's Rd
Wairuna, near Clinton.
The Fire Service was called to a fire in a farm shed at 1pm,
with crews from Clinton, Waiwera, Clutha Valley and Balclutha
attending.
Waiwera Chief Fire Officer Maurice Walter said the contractor
had been welding a gate when sparks from his welding torch
ignited bale-straw in a shed.
"The guy welding is injured. He has burns on his back and his
arms," Mr Walter said.
Alena Lynch, St John Southern Regions communications, said
the fire service called St John at 1.40pm.
"An ambulance from Balclutha attended. The patient had very
minor injuries, and was taken to a general practitioner in
Balclutha."
The shed, which Mr Walter estimates was 25m by 10m, was
consumed by the fire and fire crews had to remove the bale
straw to douse it with water.
"We had a digger driver in a breathing apparatus mask to get
the stuff out of the shed - you can't get the fire out if you
can't get water on it - we had to move it, otherwise it would
have just kept burning."
rachel.taylor@odt.co.nz
