Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Flurry of call-outs stretch fire service

Northern Advocate
7 Jan, 2016 08:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

More than 30 firefighters fought the blaze which destroyed a couple of hectares of vegetation and threatened about 10 homes.

More than 30 firefighters fought the blaze which destroyed a couple of hectares of vegetation and threatened about 10 homes.

Children were seen running from the scene of a major blaze in Donald Rd, Kaitaia, that threatened homes.

Kaitaia's deputy chief fire officer, Craig Rogers, said that was one avenue being followed by investigators.

The blaze, on Wednesday afternoon, destroyed a couple of hectares of vegetation and threatened about 10 homes, flames reaching within two or three metres of at least two houses. More than 30 firefighters focused on protecting them as a strong nor-easterly wind drove the fire through gorse, tea tree and garden trees.

Volunteer crews from Kaitaia, Mangonui, Karikari and Rangiputa fought the blaze, two helicopters arriving about an hour after the alarm was raised and finally getting the situation under control. A crew from the Kerikeri Fire Brigade was dispatched to Kaitaia to provide cover for the town.

Mr Rogers said the Kaitaia brigade had been badly stretched with four calls received in little more than an hour. The first was to an injured child on Ninety Mile Beach, at 2.25pm, followed by the Donald Rd fire at 2.33, an injured child at Te Kohanga (Ahipara) at 2.42 and a road crash at Ngataki at 3.29.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was a fairly hectic afternoon," Mr Rogers said.

"We don't always find it easy to get crews on the road during the working week, and four calls in quick succession, over a fairly big area, really had us stretched. We were down to our third and fourth trucks."

The Donald Rd fire had not been an easy one to bring under control, he said. It had been racing through tall, thick vegetation behind the houses on the higher, southern side of the road, by the time the alarm was raised, and had not been easy to get to or keep up with.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One resident, Wyn Williams, did his bit by playing his garden hose on the remains of a large (already dead) tree that was shedding burning debris on to a tall stand of bamboo, but no plans had been made to evacuate those living in the immediate vicinity.

Some residents were clearly ready to bolt, however, with people and dogs packed into cars as the firefighters worked to control the blaze.

Discover more

Celebrations start blazes that threaten homes

01 Jan 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Campers come to the rescue

03 Jan 07:50 PM

Live power lines delay fire crew

04 Jan 06:30 PM

Celtic Barn's manager looks forward to role

07 Jan 11:04 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales
Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

More than 170 customers south of Cape Rēinga are still without power.

17 Jul 08:26 AM
'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi
Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

17 Jul 06:02 AM
Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime
Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP