Authorities battling to extinguish Richards Bay woodchip mill fire
Efforts to extinguish the fire at a woodchip mill in the coastal town of Richards Bay have proved futile.
On Saturday, around midday, a fire broke out at the NCT Woodchip Mill in Richards Bay.
Two of the business’ stockpiles went up in flames, with the exact cause of the fire still being probed.
Firefighters and emergency personnel have been working around the clock to contain the fire in Richards Bay and prevent it from destroying two other stockpiles of wood chips on NCT’s premises.
And despite efforts to extinguish the smoldering fire, authorities have only been able to contain it for now.
More than 100,000 litres of water have already been used to try and extinguish the blaze.
Choppers have been called in to douse the flames with baskets of water collected from the ocean.
Mike Patterson of Business Against Crime says initial concerns were that the fire would spread to Foskor, that produces phosphates and phosphoric acid.
“The closest business to there is Foskor and Foskor seems to be operating as normal. They have got tight security on watch for the possibility of the spread of the fire but they are the closest ones.”
Sources claim the fire could rage on for days, even weeks, with the only option left to leave the woodchip stockpiles to burn out.
-EWN
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