Health NZ Te Whatu Ora has today released CCTV footage of a fire which damaged around 28 vehicles in a staff carpark at Whangārei Hospital last week in a bid to “quell ongoing speculation and misinformation online”.
Emergency services responded to reports of the blaze at around 2pm on Tuesday, October 21.
A column of thick black smoke was seen billowing from the carpark and was visible from across Whangārei.
Around 28 cars were damaged in the inferno with an unknown number of them destroyed, Fire and Emergency NZ confirmed at the time.
A 10-minute clip released online by Te Whatu Ora today showed the fire began accidentally “after a diesel vehicle parked over some dry vegetation”, Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau group director operations Alex Pimm said.
“It shows the fire starting through to the camera cable melting and cutting off the recording.”
The staff car parking area was the scene of a huge blaze, damaging 28 vehicles (Source: Other)
Modern diesel vehicles are known to reach high temperatures due to their diesel particulate filters – reaching up to 800C.
“This shows just how quickly a fire can start and spread,” Pimm said.
Pimm said Health NZ was “extremely grateful there were no staff or patient injuries as a result, and at how quickly emergency services arrived at the scene”.
Part of the vegetation in the carpark has since been removed as a precaution.
Maintenance work has also been carried out to help prevent similar incidents happening in the future.
