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A strong chemical smell hangs in the air in Tuakau as firefighters work to flush a hazardous substance from wastewater. Some residents have been evacuated although the origins and the type of substance are yet to be identified.
Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) responded to reports of a chemical smell shortly before 5pm this evening (July 21), FENZ assistant district commander (Counties), Brad Harvey confirms.
“FENZ was alerted to a strong smell in the vicinity of Kowhai Street, Tuakau. We’re dealing with an unknown substance in the wastewater network,” he told the Times. “We’re working with Watercare to flush the substance to the water treatment plant where it can be dealt with once it’s in their oxidation ponds.”
Five fire appliances and a HAZMAT command unit were in attendance at approximately 9pm this evening. An ambulance was also on site, but no one had required medical attention, the Times understands.
“We’ve evacuated 12 houses in the vicinity of Kowhai Street and we’ve advised locals nearby to stay inside with their windows closed,” Harvey says.
“We were evacuating them because there have been some complaints about people feeling a little bit light-headed from the smell. We’re not evacuating any further properties at this stage.”
As reported earlier, FENZ has been seeking specialist advice from the Queensland Fire Department and working with the Waikato District Council and Watercare.
“We’re carrying out atmospheric monitoring and we’ve started flushing the network,” Harvey says. “We will continue monitoring and, hopefully, we’re going to start seeing [the amount of the substance] decreasing – as we flush the system, the smell dissipates.”
FENZ could not confirm the nature of the substance at this stage.
“We won’t be involved in actually identifying specifically what it is,” Harvey added. “Hopefully, Watercare is able to assist with that, but at the moment the goal is to just remove it from the area.”
