Timaru ship blaze - a week on

Firefighters are in the final stages of extinguishing a blaze on a ship in Timaru’s Port, more than a week after it broke out.

Four crews from Wellington, Ashburton and Timaru are on site and firefighters are working to open up the ship to identify the remaining hotspots.

The ship was boarded up over the weekend to starve it of oxygen and help the last two fires die out.

Today crews will re-enter the ship to identify and deal to the last of the hotspots.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s area commander Steven Greenyer says they will also keep pumping water off the ship.

"That will help us to keep the ship afloat and means we can use more firefighting water on board if we need it."

However, he was hopeful it wouldn’t be needed, and the fire wasn’t far from being completely out.

"Hopefully today or tomorrow we will be able to hand over to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission," he says.

"But of course we will still be available to assist on standby. All agencies have worked extremely well together on this very complex fire."

ENDS

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