UPDATE: Where there's smoke... a toxic arson cluster

OK, seriously now. These North Island recycling plant fires are officially out of control. Police, Insurers, Fires Service - start co-ordinating or else we are going to have to add the Coroner to that list. I said on Monday that someone may be killed and I also asked whether recyclers should be on alert... now this:

In Tauranga on Monday a worker was seriously injured when a recycling yard erupted in flames. The man is in an induced coma in Tauranga Hospital. The Fire Service says there were no sprinklers inside the building in Tauranga and the fire was preventable. [TVNZ report]

4 recycling plants go up in flames in almost as many weeks! Does no-one else think this is remotely suspicious?

"It's indicative of modern New Zealand and the... industry area growing...I guess there's a lot more activity out there," says Tauranga's chief fire officer Rod Devlin. - Is everyone else except for me completely thick? 4 in 6 weeks, Mr Devlin. "Modern New Zealand"? What the fuck sort of an explanation is that? Spot the cluster, man. If would-be arsonists are counting on the Fire Service being too dumb to figure it out then they have hit pay dirt.

OSH is investigating both blazes, which could take up to six months. Fucking OSH!? What about the police? It might not be related - or it might be. It doesn't seem the possibility is even being considered.

A second report from TVNZ says:
The man was working in the yard at Man Metal in the industrial suburb of Judea, when it is thought an LPG tank exploded, igniting piles of tyres

NZ Herald report:
The fire turned a large warehouse at the yard, Metal Men on Koromiko St, into a ruin of twisted metal... Fire safety officer Ken McKeagg said an investigation would be launched into the blaze, which possibly began when the injured man was using welding equipment. "We know where [it started], we just don't know how," he said.

So they don't know. Well what can we find on Man Metal or Metal Men (there seems conflicting names in the reports because of slack journalistic standards) now we know they fall into our North Island recycling blaze group?: The Companies Office is ever so helpfully off-line... thanks, thanks a lot.

Yellow pages:
Metal Man Recyclers. Address: 6 Koromiko St Judea Tauranga. Phone number: 0-7-578 3500. Listed in Recycling Scrap Metal Dealers ...

So the two reports are both wrong. It's "Metal Man" according to Yellow pages and UBD too. I would be tempted to say that the dumb fucks can't get anything right; but there is a Metal Man Recyclers in South Auckland that does not list any depot in Tauranga despite a fairly comprehensive website. They are a third generation family of scrap dealers. Given the confusion the Co's Office being off-line is really fucking frustrating. Also there is a listing for a METALMAN, 20 Waihi Rd, Ph 578-3500 (same Tel no. as the Koromiko St listing) with the Tauranga City Council under recycling of Whiteware. Also under same name in Western BOP council listings of recyclers under aluminium cans, metal, car bodies and whiteware categories.

Possible arsonist scenario: a person who signs up as a casual employee. After burning it down, off to a new plant? Where next?