Northland news in brief: Sailor rescued; SH14 fatal crash; and use water wisely

A Northland Rescue Helicopter paramedic is winched down to attend at a sailor off the coast of Ahipara. Photo / Northland Rescue Helicopter

A Northland Rescue Helicopter crew had to wear personal protection equipment to rescue a sailor who had not spent time in quarantine. The rescue took place about 30 nautical miles west of Ahipara sometime yesterday morning.

Wearing of PPE added to a new level of complexity to an already difficult job, the Northland Rescue Helicopter said. The patient was transported safely to Auckland Hospital in a stable condition.

Use water wisely: council

The Whangārei District Council is urging people to continue using water wisely despite recent sporadic rain and more rain forecast in the coming weeks. The level at the Whau Valley dam has dropped to 57 per cent while Wilsons Dam is tracking at 69 per cent but WDC water services manager Andrew Venmore said he wasn't overly concerned because demand for water was not particularly high at present. In Kaipara, level 2 restrictions are in force in Dargaville and Baylys Beach while there are currently no water restrictions in eight water supplies run by the Far North District Council.

One dead after SH14 crash

A person has died after two vehicles crashed on Friday on State Highway 14 southwest of Whangārei. Police said they were told about the serious crash near Tangiteroria in the Kaipara District shortly before 5.30pm. Police said the person died at the scene, and another received minor injuries. Part of SH14 was closed and there were delays in the area while the crash scene was cleared. The Serious Crash Unit is investigating. Fifteen people have died on Northland roads so far this year, two more than at the same stage of 2020.

Blaze in Kaitaia

A house was badly damaged in a fire in Kaitaia early yesterday.

Fire and Emergency NZ was called to the fire, in Jamieson St, just after 2am yesterday, and the house was well ablaze when firefighters got there, a FENZ spokeswoman said. Fire crews spent more than 90 minutes at the scene putting the fire out, but it is believed to have caused extensive damage to the property. A fire safety investigator was to visit the site yesterday

to determine the cause of the fire.

New Paihia trustee sought

Focus Paihia is looking for a new environmental representative to replace Stella Kake-Schmid, who has been on the Board of Trustees since 2018 but is now fully occupied with a new Northland Regional Council kauri dieback role. Bay Bush Action, Fish Forever, Project Island Song, Guardians of the Bay, Living Waters and DoC have been approached to put forward nominees but all nominations sent to info@focuspaihia.org.nz will be accepted.

Let FENZ know about burnoffs

Fire and Emergency NZ is urging property owners having a controlled burnoff to get in touch to avoid having firefighters called out. Firefighters were called out to four controlled burnoffs in Northland on Saturday after the people having the fires failed to let FENZ know and neighbours rang in about the fires. A FENZ spokeswoman said people wanting to light a fire should first check out checkitsalright.nz which would let them know if it was controlled fire season, then ring FENZ on 09 4867949 to let them know there would be a fire. "This means we don't have to send out a crew unnecessarily when we get calls about it. If we don't know it's a controlled burnoff we have to react.'' She said such unnecessary callouts wasted resources and took firefighters, who were mainly volunteers, away from their homes or workplaces.