Burning advice
A Raumanga resident burning rubbish outside at 2am last Thursday morning, beckoned the attention of Fire and Emergency New Zealand, which sent two appliances to the man’s house. Staff put out the fire and gave the man some advice about backyard burns, a FENZ Whangārei shift manager said. While the fire season was currently “open” for the wider district, local government bylaws still applied. Raumanga is within Whangārei’s airshed boundary, which also includes most of Kamo, Tikipunga, Morningside, Central Whangārei, Otangarei, Maunu and Onerahi areas. Residents within the boundary must follow a set of rules, which are published on Northland Regional Council’s website.
Multibox failure likely cause of blaze
Fire experts have completed an investigation into a blaze that ripped through a Whangārei laundromat and drycleaning service on October 20. A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesperson said the cause of the fire was “most likely a failure in a multibox”. Fire crews from six Northland stations and an aerial appliance from Auckland Central battled the flames for more than six hours after first being alerted to the fire at about 11.20pm. The fire, on the corner of Commerce St and Okara Dr, also impacted Smart Water and Irrigation – a business next door. .The 50m x 20m laundromat and drycleaning building was “well involved” in fire by the time firefighters arrived. No one was inside the premises or injured. Smoke caused by the fire spread through Raumanga and Maunu, resulting in a public health warning.
Earlier this week the laundromat - drycleaning business texted its customers about its reduced capacity due to the fire. It urged customers to “please bear with us as we re-establish our services”. “Unfortunately, some items we had for laundry/drycleaning have been destroyed but rest assured that we have records for all of these items. We will contact those affected and work with you to reimburse/replace them.” The text recommended two other local businesses customers could use meantime.
Car, scrub fires linked
Authorities have now confirmed a car fire from which a man was rescued in Northland last week was also the cause of a sizeable scrub fire. Police were previously unable to say if the two incidents south of Ōmāpere were related until a fire investigator had inspected the scene. One person was airlifted to Middlemore Hospital after being rescued from the car fire, which was reported to emergency services about 1pm. A spokesperson for the rescue helicopter from Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST) said the rescued person was in a “critical condition” after sustaining serious burns.
Police, Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz), and Hato Hone St John were alerted at about 1pm on Thursday to the single vehicle incident at Diamond Rd, off SH12. At the same time, crews from four Fenz Northland stations and a helicopter from Kerikeri worked together for about three hours to extinguish a scrub fire that measured about 150m x 30m. Police have not yet released the cause of the car fire.
