Light fire sparks gym evacuation

A gym was evacuated after a ceiling light caught fire.

It was one of three call-outs for the Kerikeri Fire Brigade in rapid succession on Tuesday.

The response involved one of the shortest drives in the brigade's history, with the fire station about 100m across a car park from Curves Gym.

Only a handful of people were in the gym about 11.40am when a malfunctioning light fitting set fire to a plastic cover, filling the premises with smoke.

Firefighters had only just returned to the station when two more calls came in about 12.50pm, the first for a man who had broken his leg after a fall at the corner of Kerikeri and Butler roads.

Station officer Kane Argo said the man, aged in his 30s, fell on to a raised kerb when his jandals slipped on the wet pavement, snapping his ankle.

With Kerikeri's ambulance attending to another emergency in Kawakawa, firefighters fitted a boot to immobilise the man's leg until medics arrived.

The third call-out was for a burn-off at State Highway 10, near Bluegum Lane, which had been mistaken for a scrub fire.