A bulk LPG cylinder that was hanging "perilously" on top of shipping containers in a KiwiRail yard in Christchurch has been moved to safety by two large cranes.
Five fire appliances and about 30 firefighters responded to the incident at the yard in Matipo St, Riccarton.
Christchurch fire and emergency shift manager Riwai Grace said they are not sure what happened this morning to cause the dangerous repositioning of the container they were alerted to about 8.40am.
As of 11am, it had been secured safely by two cranes.
"We sent a couple of appliances and they arrived at 8.40am and noticed one container in quite a perilous state. At the moment our crews are all on standby. They're liaising with the owners of the property on how they're going to handle this," he said.
"We have five fire engines, our command unit, hazmat unit and one area commander on the scene at the moment. They're just working out the best plan of action so that it doesn't drop. We have police assisting."
"There's about 30 fire staff on the scene at the moment," Grace said.
"The good thing is we got there early and fingers crossed it won't drop and the crews won't have to do much but as a precaution we've got everyone there and they're just working out the best plan of attack with the owners of the site on how to remedy the problem.
"It's part of the KiwiRail container terminal in Christchurch. They will be taking appropriate precautions on the actual site itself for their own safety while they work out the best plan of attack on how they're going to stabilise the container that's hanging above."
