Lake Okareka Volunteer Fire Brigade - Media

House Fire in Ngākuru

19/5/2022

A house has been extensively damaged by fire in rural Rotorua. A Fire and Emergency New Zealand communications spokesman said fire crews were called to Whirinaki Valley Rd in Ngākuru just after 6.30pm following reports of a house on fire.

When fire crews arrived the house was "well-involved" in fire, the spokesman said. Crews from Rotorua, Ngongotaha and Lake Ōkāreka fire brigades were working to extinguish the blaze.

There were no reports anyone was injured, the spokesman said. As of 9pm, the fire was out but fire fighters were still at the scene. The house had been "extensively damaged".

Lake Tarawera House Fire: Neighbour Says Home 'Burned To The Ground'

22/4/2022

A Lake Tarawera family could only watch as their home went up in flames yesterday, a neighbour says.

The fire at the Spencer Rd property about 8.15am was initially reported to be in a carport but quickly spread to the attached two-storey home. All occupants of the home were accounted for and ambulance services were stood down, police said. But both structures were extensively damaged in spite of efforts by fire crews from Lake Tarawera, Lake Ōkāreka, Rotorua and Ngongotahā, supported by water tankers from Te Puke and Paengaroa.

A Tarawera resident said she woke up to a "frantic" phone call from her best friend in Auckland, asking her to check on their house next to one burning.

Another neighbour, who would not be named, claimed it took the local fire brigade more than 15 minutes to reach the home despite the station being about a five-minute drive away. Fire and Emergency NZ has defended the response, which is said took 14 minutes. The neighbour said two guests alerted him to the fire after seeing smoke and then the carport alight.

The resident said he was told that someone else had already reported the fire just before 8.15am. His guests helped to drive a vehicle away from the front of the house. "It seemed to take an incredibly long time for the local brigade to get here. I thought it was strange as I never heard the fire station siren go off to alert anyone." He said the fire station was only about a kilometre away from the property and he called 111 again at 8.25am. "I also phoned a member of the brigade I knew at 8.31am and I was told an appliance was on its way."

He said it only took about 10 minutes for the house to also catch alight and the flames were "huge". He heard bangs and little explosions as everything was engulfed in fire. "All the owners and we could do is watch helplessly as their home burned to the ground". "Fortunately, everyone got out in time but our really great neighbours who we have known for 30 years have lost everything - their whole life has gone up in flames." He estimated that the first appliance arrived around 8.33am.

Fire and Emergency NZ group manager Brendon Grylls said firefighters responded quickly to the blaze. "Our communication centre answered the first 111 call at 8.15am and dispatched Lake Tarawera and Lake Ōkāreka volunteers, and the nearest career firefighters from Rotorua.

The first firefighters arrived at the scene 14 minutes later at 8.29am. Eleven Fire and Emergency vehicles, including four water tankers, from nearby, were in attendance." Grylls said this was a "prompt response". "When they are paged, volunteers have to get to the station, get their protective gear, then get the crew to drive to the fire – all in a matter of minutes. "It's important to note that fire sirens are one of three methods we use to alert volunteer firefighters to a fire. We also use pagers and the AMS cellphone app. "We can confirm that there was no fault recorded to our communications centre when dispatching the fire brigades in this instance."

The homeowners were approached for comment about the fire.

The Rotorua Daily Post also sought comment from John Paul College's acting principal Maree Stewart. In a written statement Stewart said: "John Paul College is devastated to hear of the house fire at the home of one of our school families. Our prayers are with them at this difficult time. "We will be providing ongoing support for them. Staff have been generous with donations and we will be asking our school community for support when we have talked further with the family."

Lake Tarawera Fire: Crews Dampening Hot Spots After Two-Story House Blaze

21/4/2022

A fire at a Lake Tarawera property has been extinguished. A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said multiple crews battled house fire at a two-storey dwelling on Spencer Rd this morning.

The fire was now out and crews were dampening down hot spots. Initial reports came in around 8.15am of a fire in a carport attached to a house, a police spokeswoman said.

All people in the house have been accounted for and ambulance services were stood down. A photographer at the scene said a column of "thick, black smoke" was seen coming from the house. A reporter said there was a lot of smoke and the air was hazy.

Fire crews from Lake Tarawera, Lake Okareka, Rotorua and Ngongotahā were on scene. The road was closed from about 230 Spencer Rd.

A Tarawera resident said she woke up to a phone call from her best friend in Auckland, asking her to check on their house. "Their house is right next to the one that's burning". "They're frantic."

Helicopter Fighting Scrub Fire at Sulphur Point

15/3/2022

Photo: Phil Muldoon (left) & Lake Ōkāreka firefighters (right) fill helicopter monsoon bucket.

A scrub fire at Sulphur Point in Rotorua has been contained.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the scrub fire was about 30 metres by 50 metres in size and two fire appliances, two water tankers and one helicopter had responded to the scene.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand was alerted to the incident at 1.30pm. The spokesperson understood there was "quite a lot of smoke" that might be drifting across properties. There was no indication of the extent of damage at this stage.

A photographer at the scene says a helicopter with a monsoon bucket is dumping water scooped from Lake Rotorua on the blaze. He said the fire is in the tea tree and scrub in an area where fires have started before.

Bad Weather Fells Trees Across the Bay of Plenty

7/2/2022

Waitangi weekend's rain was 'one for the books' in the Bay of Plenty - with more to come. Metservice meteorologist Dan Corrigan said the 24 hours from 9am Sunday was Whakatāne's second-wettest February day in almost fifty years, with 117mm of rainfall recorded. "That is a lot of rain to have fallen over a short period," said Corrigan. "One for the books."

Corrigan said Whakatāne usually had around 84mm of rain over the whole month of February. Metservice has issued heavy rain watches for tonight around the Bay of Plenty. East of and including Whakatane, an orange-level heavy rain warning applies until midnight. Metservice expects between 30mm and 50mm to accumulate on top of what has already fallen.

West of Whakatane, including Rotorua, a heavy rain watch applies until 10pm today. Periods of heavy rain are forecast, and Metservice said rainfall amounts may approach warning criteria. Between 10am on Sunday and 3pm today, Whakatāne recorded 141.2mm of rain. Between 60mm-100mm had been predicted.

In the same time period, 84.5mm of rain was recorded in Rotorua, 57.1mm in Tauranga and 43.2mm in Taupō. Galatea, near Murupara, recorded 62.4mm.

Fire and Emergency northern communications shift manager Josh Tennefather earlier said there were four trees blocking roads in the Bay of Plenty, three of which had been cleared. He said the power authority was attending a fallen power line on Huratai St in Koutu, Rotorua this morning.

He said a tree blocking Waiapapa Rd near Mangakino had been moved enough for traffic flow to resume, but was still awaiting the council to be cleared completely. He said trees blocking SH38 near Kaingaroa Forest and SH33 near Moriwa had been cleared, as well as a tree blocking Acacia Rd in Lake Ōkāreka.

By Talia Parker - Multimedia journalist
Bay of Plenty Times

FENZ Says Taupō Fire '80%' Under Control

22/1/2022

Lake Ōkāreka volunteeer firefighters cooling down hotspots.

The large scrub fire on Rickit St in Taupō has been nearly entirely put out, with just 20 per cent left to go, Fire and Emergency says.

Fire and Emergency began responding to a rapidly spreading scrub fire on Rickit St around 5pm, with police helping to evacuate residents. At about 6pm the fire had covered an area of 500 metres by 500 metres, with eight fire trucks and one helicopter at the scene.

Shift manager Daniel Nicholson said the helicopter left at 9pm, and all road cordons have been lifted, with people permitted to return to their homes if they had left. He said 80 per cent of the fire had been put out, with some hotspots left still to manage.

Taupō resident Emma Cook said she had never seen anything like the large scrub fire near Rickit St.

He said a fire investigator will attend the site on Sunday morning to start the investigation into how the fire began. Some fire crew will remain overnight to handle the hotspots, and further teams will arrive at first light on Sunday to keep assisting. It is not clear whether a helicopter will return on Sunday.

Nicholson said the blaze was contained at its largest, 500 by 500 metres, and so far no structural damage has been reported.

Police asked the public to avoid the area near the wastewater treatment plant and cemetery while the fire was brought under control. Residents of a rest home were among those evacuated while the fire was managed, a police spokeswoman said.

Nearby resident Emma Cook said when the fire started around 5pm, the air was thick with smoke, but had cleared up significantly two hours later. The hill was “completely black” with some hotspots still igniting, she said, but the helicopter had been able to douse the fires from above. “A lot of the trees and shrubbery are all black, all burnt away. It's pretty hectic.”

Rickit St in Taupō was temporarily evacuated due to a vegetation fire.

She said the weather had been extremely hot and dry in Taupō on Saturday, and quite windy. “Because the wind is going towards the lake, all the smoke is going right into town. We’ve hardly had any rain, so I am not surprised it's gone up so quickly. “Down by the river it’s kind of a sun trap, so when it gets really hot here it dries everything out completely.” Cook said firefighters had been “relentless” when working to get the fire under control.

Sapeer Mayron - Stuff.co.nz

2021 Young Achiever Finalist - Jack Eggleston

8/11/2021

Lake Ōkāreka firefighter Jack Eggleston is Rotorua Trust's 2021 Young Achiever Finalist for School and Community Leadership and Sporting Achievement.

Jack is the current deputy head boy at Rotorua Lakes High School. He has achieved an excellence endorsement for both NCEA level 1 and 2, along with being the captain of the Lakes High 1st XI football team and competing in both mountain biking and skiing. He has used this as biking has helped him take his mind off any academic pressure and has been a big part of his character development to who he is today.

Jack takes pride in representing the school community, as a role model, supporting a positive learning environment within the school. Jack has relished the opportunities that have come with being deputy head boy and captain of the football team, coming out of his comfort zone to step up and lead by example.

He practices these values back in his own community as a volunteer firefighter, including attending numerous local callouts throughout the day and night and a 7-day national deployment in 2020. Jack has been lucky enough to come through the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club race development squad to use his skills learnt to compete in various local, national, and international events, as well as securing a coaching role at Tuned Rotorua.

Jack has interests in a variety of activities including sports such as mountain biking, football, and skiing. Along with community involved activities such as volunteer firefighting and coaching the upcoming generation of mountain bikers. He takes pride in representing Rotorua Lakes High School, at formal events as a head prefect and at sporting events as an athlete and has enjoyed these opportunities all throughout his high school life.

Next year Jack is studying engineering at the University of Canterbury, with the hope of becoming a biomedical engineer, along with gaining further experience in mountain biking and competing in the enduro world series. All this while continuing to stay a volunteer firefighter at the Lake Ōkāreka Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Gas Detection Project: New Gas Detectors

21/10/2021

The FENZ gas detection project team is happy to announce the decision on our new gas detectors which is supported by management. The trials took place at NTC and Lake Ōkāreka in Rotorua, City Fire Station in Auckland and USAR sites across fires, chemical spills, medicals, USAR and specialist fire investigation where we simulated as close as possible to real events.

The project team would like to thank every member of the working group for providing the criteria we tested against, as well as the evaluation panel, represented by all divisions of Fire and Emergency service delivery, and the unions and associations for putting in all the extra time required. The firefighters who tested and gave feedback and opinions on the gas detectors were all highly skilled individuals who performed team activities perfectly; these people were of such a high calibre that you can be comfortable the decision is the right one.

These are our projected milestones although these are COVID-19 dependent. We have completed the replacement of the ImpactPros with MultiRaes, with our next milestone in November 2021 - the arrival of the first PGMs and single gas COs.

We present the three levels of gas detection for Fire and Emergency:

Personal CO Monitors (COM)

This is the Industrial Scientific Tango, which will be handed out at wildfire events by the IMT. This is a robust and small unit (126g) that can become part of your normal kit without getting in your way.

New Zealand regulations and laws require that you are not exposed to more than 400ppm at any stage of your work and no more than an average of 25ppm across an eight-hour shift. (These can be adjusted to reflect longer shift times, e.g. 17.5 for a 10 hour shift).

As CO is naturally dealt with by your body in lower concentrations, you will be provided with training on managing the exposures, and members of the IMT will be given solid data for strategy and risk mitigation decisions.

Personal Gas Monitors (PGM)

From the same manufacturer comes the VentisPro 5 gas monitor. This highly visible monitor is also small (200g) and attaches to your radio loops on wildfire and structural PPE. It will monitor:

Flammable gases
Oxygen
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN)
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S)

It will give you much more protection at fires, gas leaks, refrigerant plants, accidental and self-harm medical events, confined spaces and post fire investigations.

This monitor won all our shortlisting and firefighting tests and coming from the same manufacturer as the COM means it has the same user menus, simplifying your training and operation. It also comes with a future state function of live monitoring on the incident ground via wireless.

Survey Device (SD)

This detector is slightly different in that we have a panel of suppliers from the four biggest gas detector manufacturers in the world - Honeywell/Rae, Drager, Industrial Scientific and MSA.

In two years, we will revisit the SDs and trial the best fit for the future. Meanwhile for the next two years you will continue to have the Interim RAE MultiRae lite on the PRT and HazMats and soon we will bring another MultiRae to the hazmats, with extra gases, namely NH3 and Cl2.

SOPs
We will soon commence a station pilot to fine-tune our standard operational procedures, then roll out a refined solution next year. The final allocation details on this pilot are governed by a few technical requirements that are still under investigation. We will cover large metropolitan, provincial metropolitan, composite and busy volunteer stations. Wildfire will be covered in a separate SOP trial to be confirmed with region management.

Milestones
These are our projected milestones although these are COVID-19 dependent. We have completed the replacement of the ImpactPros with MultiRaes, with our next milestone in November 2021 - the arrival of the first PGMs and single gas COs.

Overnight House Fire in Reporoa

17/8/2021

The Reporoa house was completely destroyed. Photo / Supplied

A Reporoa woman has described waking to find her neighbour's house burnt to the ground this morning. A Fire and Eme rgency New Zealand spokeswoman said the Strathmore Rd single-storey house was "well-involved" when crews arrived around 2am.

Two fire trucks and two tankers were at the scene from Taupō and Lake Ōkāreka. All people in the house were accounted for, and there was no damage to neighbouring properties. A neighbour, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the house was "well and truly gone by the time I got up at 3.30am".

Firefighters were called to the blaze around 2am. Photo / Supplied

She thought she heard a noise during the night but thought nothing of it, however, she noticed flashing lights. After getting up, she noticed the fire trucks at her neighbour's house. She said the house was smoking with small flames and she ran back to get her partner so they could move the horses from the paddock.

Police were at the scene to help firefighters and a spokeswoman said there were inquiries under way into the circumstances. A fire investigator is investigating the cause.

Controlled Burn Used As Training Exercise

31/7/2021

The controlled burn starting to pick up. Photo / Supplied

Those who passed by Mt Ngongotahā this afternoon may have seen some billows of smoke and flickering of flames - but there was no need to panic.

A large fire burning on the side of Mt Ngongotahā this afternoon was a controlled burn. Scrub was burnt on a block of land above the Adventure Playground tourist attraction, where gorse and scrub have grown in the area over the years.

Prime Forest Management Ltd consultant Shane Perrett said the owners were planning to clear it and plant pine trees. Given the state of the land, it was too hard to get machinery in there to clear it, so fire was being used instead to prepare the land, he said.

The helicopter in action during the controlled burn. Photo / Andrew Warner

He said about 30 hectares was part of the controlled burn.

Helicopters were used and about 15 people were involved, including Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff who used the fire as a training exercise. Before the controlled burn began a briefing was held.

A monsoon bucket with water and foam was also used to dampen and protect a small, empty cabin structure from being a part of the burn. The helicopter and bucket in the sky was quite a sight, and some of those doing Rotorua clay bird shooting paused to watch.

A monsoon bucket was used to help protect a small cabin from the controlled burn. Photo / Shauni James

Perrett said the controlled burn didn't take off as much as planned, which may have been due to temperature. He said they might give it another crack in a few weeks depending on weather.

Jarron McInnes, deputy principal rural fire officer, had said beforehand he hoped all the Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff attending would walk away with some key learnings. He said using the controlled burn as a training exercise was about knowing your fire environment and the behaviour you could expect.

Afterwards he said, despite it not taking off like expected, the firefighters certainly saw some fire behaviour and got key learnings which was good training for them, and it gave them some experience using hand tools.

The helicopter at work. Photo / Supplied

54-Year-Old Man Dies After Crash at Lake Okareka

27/4/2021

Police have confirmed a man died following a single-vehicle crash at Lake Ōkareka.

The crash happened on Millar Rd about 2.45pm on Wednesday. In a statement, police said the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was taken to Rotorua Hospital with serious injuries, where he died on Friday. He was 54-year-old Paul Bevan Beazley of the Bay of Plenty.

Last week, the road was closed and diversions were in place while the Serious Crash Unit investigated. A St John spokeswoman said two ambulances and one helicopter were sent to the scene.

Lake Okareka Fire Station Officially Opened

23/3/2021

Bay of Plenty’s newest fire station, at Lake Okareka, was opened by Internal Affairs Minister Hon. Jan Tinetti on Saturday.

The Lake Okareka brigade had operated out of an old rural fire depot since 1985, and although that depot had served the community and brigade well, it was no longer fit for purpose. It was too small for the brigade’s 32 members and didn’t have training facilities or many of the features – like basic ablutions - expected in a modern fire station.

The new station has an appliance bay that houses the brigade’s three vehicles (a fire appliance, water tanker and smoke chaser), training and decontamination facilities, and a large meeting room and kitchen facilities. It is fully seismically strengthened so will continue to be a reliable base for the community after a large earthquake.

Minister Tinetti thanked the Lake Okareka volunteers for their great service to the community and acknowledged families for their ongoing support. She noted the new station is a real asset for the Lake Okareka community and beyond.

Fire and Emergency Board Chair Paul Swain acknowledged the fundraising efforts of the local brigade and a grant from the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust towards this project, which mean the training room, kitchen and bathrooms are available for community use.

He also acknowledged the change in types of incidents since the brigade was first formed and stressed the importance of looking out for each other.

The event was also attended by Councillor Dave Donaldson, Kaumatua Wairangi Jones and Pererika Mahika, co-founders of the brigade Peter Harding and Martin Caughey, long-time Lake Okareka resident Fenella Payne, Lake Okareka Contoller Phil Muldoon, and Lake Okareka Rural Fire Brigade members, family and friends.

L-R Internal Affairs Minister Hon. Jan Tinetti, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust's Tony Gill, Fire and Emergency Board Chair Paul Swain, Lake Okareka Contoller Phil Muldoon, and Councillor Dave Donaldson

Fire and Emergency Board Chair Paul Swain addresses attendees

Minister Tinetti declares Lake Okareka Fire Station open

Outstanding Rotorua student wins Myers scholarship to Cambridge - Universities NZ

22/3/2021

Ishan Nath, former deputy head boy, academic captain and leader of the academic committee at Rotorua’s John Paul College, has been awarded the prestigious Sir Douglas Myers scholarship to study at Cambridge University in England.

Eighteen-year-old Ishan plans to apply to study the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge, due to the breadth of content-including number fields, logic, quantum mechanics, quantum computing and general relativity.

Ishan’s academic achievements include gaining Outstanding Scholarships in calculus (the first as a Year 11 student) and Statistics alongside Scholarships in Earth and Space Science, and Physics.

Ishan has also represented New Zealand in the International Mathematics Olympiad for the last three years, achieving a bronze medal in 2018 and 2019. In the 2020 edition of the Olympiad, Ishan 's score landed him a Gold Medal-only the second awarded to a New Zealand competitor in the history of the competition. Ishan also received a perfect score in the Australian Mathematical Olympiad and a Gold medal in the Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad.

Music, speech training and community service also feature prominently in Ishan’s achievements. He has learned both piano and guitar to a high standard and played in the school orchestra, was a member of the school debating team, and completed Speech New Zealand certificates and diploma. His community service includes volunteering with Trade Aid in Rotorua, and working as a volunteer fire brigade member with the Lake Okareka Fire Force.

Sharing his passion for mathematics has been important to him. "My passion for mathematics ignited when I was exposed to Olympiad mathematics, firstly with the New Zealand Maths Olympiad Committee Camp Selection problems, then with the camp itself," he says.

"I learnt that mathematics was not a subject meant to be rote-learnt but was instead full of creativity and artistic interpretation. Even after finishing my career as an Olympiad mathematician, I keep on returning to these problems as a problem-solving challenge and to explore mathematical ideas that I have not yet seen.

"After numerous experiences teaching mathematics, as an invited lecturer, an online workshop volunteer, and as a paid tutor, I have always been inspired by seeing students solve these problems with their own creative processes."

Ishan’s ambitions and future plans are connected to his activities through his school years. "Both aspects of physics and computer science interest me, so while pure mathematics is appealing, I would enjoy entering an applied field and working on problems with real-world impacts… or fundamental problems in modern physics," he says. "Service towards my community is an important part of my life at the moment, and I hope that in ten years it will remain that way… I wish to remain involved with Fire and Emergency New Zealand and keep on helping out as a volunteer firefighter, and possibly become a crew leader and help people get into volunteer firefighting. I aim to also continue my passions in music and drama, by playing in orchestras or bands and by partaking in local productions.

"I am sure to be involved in the Olympiad community, no matter where I am located. Both my love for maths, as well as my desire to give back to this community that helped me develop my mathematical skills, have inspired me to help the next generation of mathematicians."

The late Sir Douglas Myers set up this scholarship 18 years ago for academically gifted students intending to return to New Zealand to become leaders in their chosen fields.

John Taylor, Chair of the Myers Scholarship Selection Committee, says "We were delighted to hear from the Caius Director of Studies in Mathematics that Ishan was up with the best students he had interviewed over the past 25 years! Given that the Mathematics Tripos is traditionally regarded as the toughest degree at Cambridge, Ishan has shown that our top NZ mathematics students can compete with the best in the world. We will be following this hugely talented young man’s career with great interest in the years ahead."

Sir Douglas Myers, a well-known businessman and former leader in the brewing industry, graduated with a BA in History from Gonville and Caius College. He was a significant supporter of education, business, sport and the arts, and this scholarship continues his outstanding legacy of finding ways to create opportunities to encourage young New Zealanders to succeed in global competition.

The scholarship provides tuition and college fees and a living allowance and is worth approximately £34,000 or $60,000 per annum.

Universities New Zealand, formerly the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, administers this scholarship in addition to around 40 other undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships.

Applications for the 2022 Sir Douglas Myers Scholarship close on 1 December 2021.

Classic Cars Among Damage in Large Rotorua Blaze

5/2/2021

A large fire has destroyed the contents of a Paradise Valley property including at least three classic cars and a large truck. The blaze broke out at a property on Paradise Valley Rd about 11pm, spreading through the building and then into neighbouring shrub.

A Rotorua Daily Post reporter at the scene said the fire had destroyed a large shed about 40m by 40m and what looked to be at least three classic cars and a large truck could be seen among the rubble. A house on the property hadn't been damaged.

Damage from a fire at a Paradise Valley property last night. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The man who lives at the property arrived at the house just after 9am. He said he was too devastated to talk as he had lost everything. He said he was now meeting with the fire safety investigator.

A Bay of Plenty Regional Council worker arrived at the property just before 9am and said they had been called to check if contaminants had leaked into the nearby steam.

A neighbouring couple, who didn't want to be named, said they were asleep with their ranch slider door open about 11pm when they heard a massive bang that woke them up. "I thought someone had slammed the door," the woman said. They then looked outside and saw the fire. "It just went boom. Then there were five to six big booms."

Classic cars are among the damage in a Paradise Valley fire. Photo / Andrew Warner

Alec Martin, an emergency response team member who lives in the area, said he and his children headed to the scene after hearing "a real loud explosion" last night.

Eight fire appliances and four tankers were sent to the scene.

A large house fire broke out on Paradise Valley Road, in Rotorua, about 11pm. Photo / Supplied

"We shot down and found the house was full on ablaze," he said. "We parked up in the driveway and I tried to get the lady out of the neighbouring house but she was too scared to leave. My daughter called the fire brigade. "That house was a couple of hundred metres from the fire but I was worried about it spreading. She ended up coming out in the end but the fire crews stopped it spreading that far."
Martin said the building on fire was a "workman's shed". "It was huge and crazy hot. The shed had gas canisters and chemicals so there were quite a few explosions, it was pretty freaky. "It was away from the house but it burnt out all the neighbouring trees and stuff. There is a guy who stays in the shed so we were a bit worried someone was in there but thankfully not." There were initial reports of people inside the home, but it was later established that the residents were not at home when the fire broke out.

A fire truck and tanker stayed at the scene through the night to monitor for hotspots.

Local resident Alley James said he and his neighbours were walking around their properties about 11pm because they could smell the smoke and he and his mother-in-law up the hill and another neighbour down the road were walking around their properties checking to see if the smoke smell was coming from near them. "Twenty minutes later a loud bang was heard. Originally, I thought it was just a hunter shooting a high powered rifle. All of a sudden a massive explosion was not only heard but felt as well. "Flames licked the night sky as the surrounding trees and foliage were set ablaze." He described the smell as being like plastic burning. He said neighbours all rushed to call emergency services. James, who had lived in the area for 16 years, said he didn't know the people who lived at the house and understood they hadn't been there long.

Another neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said a woman lived in the house (on the property) and a man lived in a nearby house bus. She was one of several neighbours who heard the explosion and also called emergency services. She said she and her family came down to look but left the area to let the large contingent of firefighters do their job to contain the fire as there were fears of it spreading to surrounding bush and trees.

Matakana Island Fire: Five Helicopters and Five Crews Fight Fire For 8th Day

21/12/2020

Five helicopters and five rural firefighter crews are still fighting the fire on Matakana Island today, eight days after it started. Those fighting the fire are being praised by a former resident of the island who said the blaze had been "devastating" to watch.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the extent of the damage, and how long they would need to stay on the island, was unknown. Homes were not currently at risk and the fire had been all forestry.

Today rural firefighters from Te Puke, Lake Okareka, Lake Tarawera and Okere Falls were on the island which was "still on fire". MetService meteorologist Tom Adams said it would be more humid with a few showers tomorrow but there would also be moderate winds in the morning. The winds will pick up again on Wednesday and Christmas Eve will be a wet day which might offer some relief with an estimated 20mm to 30mm of rain.

On Saturday, smoke was seen billowing after the fire jumped a fire break causing it to resurge. The fire initially started on December 13. Smoke was seen from around the city, with an Otumoetai resident reporting fine ash falling on his Grange Rd property.

On Sunday, two helicopters, three ground crews and two bulldozers were involved in the efforts.

Tauranga resident Rachael Garrett grew up on the island and said watching it burn was "devastating" and a "shock". Garrett was on the island the day before the initial blaze with her in-laws who she had taken for a drive down the beach and she had mentioned that in all her years there had never been a fire. "The very next day we had a fire, and that was devastating. I couldn't believe it."

On the Saturday the blaze reignited, and she headed out on the water and looked at where the fire had been the week prior and said there was no smoke. "From the time it took for me to get from that side of the island, back up Hunter's Creek, all of a sudden there was a whole lot of smoke." Within 40 minutes, the helicopters had arrived. "I just found them absolutely amazing, they were constantly going."

Matakana Island is also the home of the Department of Conservation's dotterel breeding programme. The dotterel is an endangered small shorebird found only in New Zealand, with only 2500 birds left. The programme was initially set up in 1992, and has led to more than 300 successfully fledged chicks over that time. The relative isolation of the island's beaches is a key element in the successful breeding, making it one the country's top breeding sites.