Five years ago the Icepak coolstores at Tamahere exploded, killing a fireman, injuring seven others and scarring a community. Philippa Stevenson, a Tamahere resident and journalist, reflects on the tragedy and asks whether it could happen again.

Tamahere Model Country School’s annual Pumpkin Night, held a week ago, was a delight.

As one Pumpkin Night follows another it feels like nothing changes.

But some things certainly need to change. Because Pumpkin Night five years ago ended before it began with a black mushroom cloud blasting and boiled into the sky, taking a life and changing the course of many others forever.

Growing calls for a corporate manslaughter charge in the wake of the CTV building collapse in Christchurch and the Pike River mine disaster coincide with the fifth anniversary of the fatal Tamahere fire – where a plea was also made for stiffer law.

This week, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson said he may pursue a law change allowing corporate manslaughter charges in cases like the CTV building collapse in the second earthquake in February 2011, in which 115 people died.

The move was welcomed by Labour’s Justice spokesperson Andrew Little, who has a member’s Bill in Parliament’s ballot that creates a crime of corporate manslaughter.

Dairy giant Fonterra has settled a claim against companies in the Icepak coolstore group for the loss of $25 million of cheese in the 2008 Tamahere fire that claimed the life of a firefighter.

The case was settled last October in a confidential out-of-court settlement.

In January 2011, Fonterra was given permission to sue the owners of the Tamahere coolstore, Icepak Group Ltd.

The Labour Department expert who investigated the Icepak fire at Tamahere has been honoured.

Keith Stewart, one of the department’s leading health and safety experts, has been given a lifetime achievement award for his 35 years of dedication to workplace health and safety in New Zealand.

He was honoured for his contribution and commitment to health and safety at this year’s Workplace Health and Safety Awards gala dinner in Auckland on Thursday.

More regulation is needed to prevent a recurrence of the Tamahere Icepak tragedy, says a leader in the refrigeration industry.

“We need more regulation to prevent similar tragedies,” says Rob Morgan, chair of the Climate Control Companies Association. “What is in place is little known and insufficient.

“There is licensing for many trades, including plumbers, roofers and electricians; the person who fills up your gas bottle at the petrol station needs to be an approved HSNO filler, but anyone can install flammable refrigerants into a large system.”

Just two weeks short of the fourth anniversary of the tragic Icepak Coolstores explosion Hamilton Coroner Peter Ryan has released his findings on the death at Tamahere of senior firefighter Derek Lovell.

Derek Lovell, 49, died of traumatic injuries from an explosion on April 5, 2008 at the Devine Rd coolstore facility when he and seven other firefighters responded to a fire alarm triggered by a major leak of highly flammable LPG refrigerant.

Following an inquest held over three-days in September 2011 the Coroner made a number of recommendations designed to prevent further deaths occurring in similar circumstances.

Concerns have been raised by British refrigeration engineers over the flammable nature of next-generation refrigerants like the one that caused the fatal 2008 explosion at Tamahere.

RAC, the UK Refrigeration and Air Conditioning magazine, reported that industry concerns were growing over a surge in the use of flammable refrigerants and a lack of controls over who could buy them.

“It follows an inquest in New Zealand which heard that the refrigeration industry there does not have enough skilled staff to deal with the imminent growth of flammable hydrocarbons.”

Tamahere was put on the world map by the 2008 Icepak tragedy and the aftermath continues to attract global interest.

“A Coronial Inquest into the world’s most severe incident involving hydrocarbon refrigerants in New Zealand has been held recently,” reports hydrocarbons21.com.

Reports provided to this week’s inquest into the death of firefighter Derek Lovell are comprehensive accounts of the events leading up to and on the day of the 2008 tragedy that are not widely known.

The Fire Service released its report in September 2008 but the more detailed Labour Department report into the explosion and fire more than three years ago has been under wraps until now. The reports are available on Tamahere Forum.

An engineer has slammed the refrigeration industry for a lack of standards that he says allows virtually anyone to install a refrigeration system without any monitoring.

Brian Jackson, a professional engineer and member of the Institute of Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers, gave evidence at the inquest into the death of senior firefighter Derek Lovell at Tamahere in 2008.