Refuelling mishap risk for firefighters | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A man who confused his boat's rod holder with its fuel inlet was the subject of an unusual fire service call out to Keith Allen Drive yesterday.

The man thought he was refuelling the 7.5m pleasure craft at about 6.15pm but accidently filled the vessel with 160 litres of fuel before he realised what had happened, Tauranga brigade senior station officer Mark Keller said.

The Tauranga Fire Service responded and spent a couple of hours siphoning the petrol into a container, which was then pumped away and disposed of.

Mr Keller said there was a significant amount of flammable fuel gases that posed a risky problem to their operation.

"We had to got through it pretty rigorously and follow a lot of procedure. We had to disconnect the batteries and we couldn't lift the motor, so we couldn't put it in to a trailer."

Firefighters donned breathing apparatuses and covered the boat in dry powder and hoses as a precautionary measure to help prevent the fuel from igniting.

"We were involved for quite a while but we eventually got it out," Mr Keller said.

Mr Keller said the fuel had pooled under the floorboards in the bottom of the boat.

The Greerton service's hazardous materials truck was called in to assist.

Mr Keller said the men from the boat had just come back from spending the weekend at Mayor Island.