On Saturday, 5 April 2008 a serious explosion and subsequent fire occurred at the Icepak Coolstores facility in Tamahere near Hamilton. The incident followed a routine response by Hamilton fire crews to a smoke detector, and resulted in the death of one firefighter and serious injury to seven others. The National Commander of the New Zealand Fire Service appointed a four-person inquiry team to look into the circumstances surrounding the incident and to provide a draft report to him for comment within 90 days. This period was later extended by a further 30 days. The final report was required to be presented to the New Zealand Fire Service Commission.

This report describes what the inquiry team found out about the facility, the incident, and Fire Service preparedness for such an event. The team was given the freedom to use whatever processes it chose to conduct the inquiry, but had no powers to require documents or other information from external parties. Though many individuals and bodies were extremely helpful, the contents and findings of this report have to be considered within that constraint.