Gisborne news digest: Crash causes brief power cut, supermarket evacuated after false alarm

Firstlight Network manager George Drysdale said about 8000 Gisborne customers were without power for close to 45 minutes after a car hit a power pole at Makauri.

A car left Haisman Rd near the Tucker Rd corner at Makauri on Tuesday night, smashing through a 50kV power pole and cutting power to about 8000 Gisborne homes and businesses.

The vehicle was empty when the emergency services arrived at the scene, at about 7.15pm that night.

“People in it had left the scene,” a senior firefighter said.

Police attended and were following what they said were positive lines of inquiry.

Fire crews were there for about two hours to make the scene safe.

FirstLight Network’s faults staff arrived to make the necessary repairs.

“The car hit a major sub transmission pole, which left approximately 8000 customers without power from 7.14pm until 8pm Tuesday night,” said network manager George Drysdale.

“Our team worked quickly to change the pole and restored the power quickly to all but 70 customers.

“The 70 had their power restored by midnight.”

Abandoned car burned out

Fire crews from Pātūtahi and Gisborne responded to a vehicle on fire in Wharekopae Rd, near the quarry, on Tuesday night.

It happened around 10pm.

The abandoned car was well alight when they arrived.

“It was burnt out,” a senior firefighter said.

Police have an inquiry underway.

Truck crash

A truck and trailer unit carrying apples left SH2 north near Matawai at midday Tuesday and tipped onto its side.

The driver of the rig was uninjured, police say.

Transportation business Gisborne Hiabs was called out to recover the damaged truck.

Its cargo of apples was reportedly secure in the truck’s chiller units.

Woolworths false alarm

Firefighters in Gisborne responded to a report of a hazardous gas issue at Woolworths supermarket at around 3.15pm on Tuesday.

The supermarket was evacuated while firefighters went inside to investigate.

“It involved a false alarm with the CO2 alarms in their chiller unit,” a senior firefighter said.

“There was no issue.”

Customers were allowed back into the store around 4pm.