Northland fire: More homes at Ahipara evacuated, but blaze contained

Sunday, 4 October 2020

Firefighters have contained a blaze at Ahipara in the far North, but will reassess the situation at first light.

The scrub fire near the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach caused four properties to be evacuated on Sunday afternoon.

Police understood there’d been more evacuations on Kaitaia-Awaroa Rd, but the number of homes evacuated was not yet confirmed.

Fire Northern Communications​ shift manager Colin Underdown​ said at 10pm that the blaze was contained, but firefighters would probably go back at dawn to check the area again.

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* Firefighters contain scrub fire in Ahipara, Far North, where homes were evacuated

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The fire burnt about ten hectares. It also sparked the evacuation of properties at about 1.30pm, a police spokeswoman said.

Police were still at the scene shortly after 10pm, and were helping with traffic control.

Herekino Gorge, Ngakaroa Rd​ and Roma Rd​ were still closed on Sunday night.

The Northland fire erupted on an unusually busy weekend for firefighters across New Zealand.

A huge forest fire consumed about 1600 hectares and destroyed at least 20 homes at Lake Ōhau in the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin.

In Wellington, an electrical fire caused part of the CBD to be cordoned off on Sunday afternoon.

And in Takaka, 100km northwest of Nelson, seven firefighting crews and two helicopters battled a bush fire on Sunday.