Fire investigators have identified an electrical fault as the cause of a blaze which destroyed a Gore business on Sunday night.
Southland Fire Service area commander Bruce Stubbs said two fire investigators completed an investigation at Livestock Supplies Ltd yesterday and identified the origin of the fire as being in the building's main switchboard.
While it was not known exactly when the fire started, people in the building on Sunday afternoon did not notice anything amiss, Mr Stubbs said.
Gore Volunteer Fire Brigade Deputy Fire Chief Donald McGuigan said containing the blaze in strong easterly winds had been ''pretty hard work''.
The biggest concerns were toxic smoke being blown towards the Gore business district and residential areas, and the risk of fire spreading into a neighbouring building which stored industrial gases, Mr McGuigan said.
Forklifts in the Livestock Supplies Ltd building also had lpg cylinders on them.
The arrival of a Bronto ladder turntable appliance from Invercargill about 8pm made a significant difference to the battle against the blaze, he said.
''That had a fairly major water delivery with it.
''We had [the fire] contained probably about 10 or 11pm,'' Mr McGuigan said.
Livestock Supplies Ltd owners Geoff and Selina Popenhagen were grateful for the fast response from emergency services after the alarm was raised about 6.20pm.
The couple thanked the community, fire brigades and the police for their support and offers of help after the fire and for the fire brigades' efforts in saving neighbouring buildings.
The building, stock and plant were insured and it was planned to rebuild as soon as possible, Mrs Popenhagen said.
Staff would remain fully employed.
''We intend to get up and going as quickly as we can,'' she said.
Mr Popenhagen said he had spent the day talking to insurance assessors and looking for alternative sites from which to run the business while a decision was made whether to rebuild on the same site or temporarily relocate.
''There's not a heck of a lot available,'' Mr Popenhagen said.
Assessors could be in a position to make a decision about insurance by Easter, he said.
While not all the business' stock was lost in the fire, all higher-value stock was destroyed and stock which was sourced from overseas would take two to three months to replace, he said.
''We can't do anything until the insurance assessors say yea or nay.
''When we get a decision we can go from there.''
The company tests and supplies specialist fertiliser and trace elements for soil and farm livestock. -
- by Russell Fredric
