April 5 blast and fire: pix

Tamahere’s April 5, 2008 inferno – one of the biggest fires in New Zealand history: some images

Smoke pouring from the Icepak coolstores 9 minutes after the 4.30pm explosion on April 5, 2008.

Quickly the coolstores became a raging inferno.

Firemen and a fire truck are dwarfed by the raging fire.

A coolstore disintegrates in the fire revealing its contents – pallets of cheese.

Tamahere people who were attending the Tamahere School’s annual pumpkin festival came to the aid of badly injured firemen. If not for their efforts, the Fire Service said later, at least three more would have died. Senior Fireman Derek Lovell died as a result of injuries from the blast that started the fire.

The fire burnt on for a week.