A scrapyard blaze in south Auckland briefly brought the city’s train network to a standstill as residents received health warnings over the toxic smoke covering the region.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) were alerted to smoke in south Auckland at midnight on May 31. On arrival, they found a pile of scrap metal that was 70 metres long and wide and 10 metres high on fire.
FENZ issued warnings that the fire could be releasing toxic smoke and warned nearby residents to keep windows and doors shut and turn off any air conditioning that draws from the air outside.
The toxicity was not the result of burning chemicals but rather the mix of plastics within the scrap metal pile….