Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
A fire investigator will examine the cause of a fire that has burnt through 14,000 hay bales south of Ashburton in Canterbury.
The blaze broke out in two hay sheds housing 214,000 bales at Andrew Quigley Contracting in Winslow shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
FENZ incident controller Carrie Swanson said the fire had been contained but 50 firefighters remained on site.
She said it was too early to assess the full extent of the damage or how many bales had been destroyed.
"Crews are working really hard to make sure that the exposures are protected, so that's other assets and buildings that are nearby, just to make sure that no embers are transporting onto those," she said.
Swanson said heavy machinery was being brought in to remove the bales and crews expected to be there for the next day or two.
It was not yet clear how the fire started, she said.
Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
Ashburton district councillor Rob Mackle saw smoke coming from the business the morning.
He said Quigley was well-respected in Ashburton and the farming community.
"It's a large contracting business, employs a number of staff, and they will be out there helping Andrew at the moment," she said.
"There'll be a massive cleanup for him going ahead, but it is a great community here, they'll all be pitching in to help I imagine."
Ashburton mayor Neil Brown was at the scene working a day shift for the fire brigade, Mackle said.
He said he assumed the fire was caused by combustion, although that was yet to be determined.
"If you put hay into a shed, there's always an element of risk of it heating up and catching alight. There is always that risk, but you do your best to mitigate that," he said.
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