A gas blast which killed a Hamilton fireman and injured seven others at the weekend was similar to a terrorist blast in Iraq or London, a surgeon says.
Grant Christey, head of trauma at Waikato Hospital, said today the blast would have ripped through the Icepak coolstores on Saturday at 2000kmh, followed by super heated air which caused severe injuries to exposed flesh.
"The blast wave was very high energy. It was around about 2000kmh. That was the blast pulse which hit these firefighters," Mr Christey told media in Hamilton today.
"It was followed by a super heated gas wave that would have blown all of the exposed skin or loose clothing off."
He said all the injured had lung, ear and eye injuries as well as severe burns.
All of them had been knocked out by the blast and would have been hit by flying debris.
"There are a lot of injuries that were not really apparent when they came in which we have spent a lot of time sifting through in the last few days," Mr Christey said.
All the injured were doing "reasonably well" thanks to the people, including medical staff at a nearby function, who gave immediate first aid at the blast scene and follow up treatment at hospital.
He said many who helped at the scene put themselves in high danger to provide immediate life saving medical assistance to the firefighters.
