Up to 50 South Auckland residents were evacuated this morning as fireballs shot into the air, during one of the city’s worst vehicle blazes in recent memory.
The fire on a section of Auckland’s southern motorway, near Papakura, was caused by a chemical truck sparking during an overnight commute.
According to a witness, the rear carriage of the truck was first to spark - blazing within 10 minutes. Another 20 minutes passed before the “whole front carriage” was on fire.
Those living in homes surrounding the motorway all reported waking at various times around 3am. One resident living 3km away said she was awoken by bangs.
“It sounded like gunfire,” she told the Herald.
Commuters driving towards the blaze before fire crews arrived described the terror of U-turning on the one-way motorway lanes.
Kristina Pham was headed to the airport for an early flight, her partner driving with their children in the back.
As they spotted the flames, they were hesitant to drive past it - instead turning back in the direction of traffic flow to avoid the explosions hitting them.
Sirens then began blaring from all directions.
“[There were] firetrucks and police everywhere, it was unreal,” she said.
For those whose houses were situated closer to the motorway, the incident posed a serious threat to their safety.
Local Steven Shortt watched as flying fire projectiles were thrown into his property’s front lawn, flames reaching higher than 50-metre powerlines surrounding the blaze.
He said nearby cars were covered in ash across their whole front.
“We grabbed the dogs and animals, went across the road and watched the explosions and fires from a safer distance,” he said.
Shortt compared the heat and fire’s impact to a war scene, with the upstairs of his home hot against the windows.
“I’ve never in my life seen anything like that before...it was pretty crazy man.”
As firefighters fought to contain the blaze, a drone was put in the air to survey the threat posed by the chemicals inside the truck.
According to Bernard, a nearby resident who spoke with firefighters surveying the scene, grave concerns were held that the worst was still to come.
“They were pretty worried, there were two massive chemical packs inside which hadn’t exploded,” Bernard said.
“The firefighters believed the blast zone was 500 metres, so I got the heck out of there.”
Sam Durbin’s home was among those evacuated, his dog awoke him and his wife when the flames were visible from their house.
“We saw the almighty fire, so I rang 111 and managed to report it within 10 minutes of it growing,” Durbin told the Herald.
“I checked the street and saw people milling around so I thought ‘okay, we need to go’.”
Making their way to the bottom of the drive with wife, son and dog, Durbin’s family was greeted by a firefighter who had begun going door-to-door.
“He told us to get to the McDonald’s, now.”
Camping out with at least 50 other nearby locals, Durbin’s family were left stranded in the car park of a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.
Local police continued to communicate with the evacuated residents, McDonald’s staff stepped up and opened the doors to their restaurant.
“[McDonald’s] were great, they opened early and people were able to get their coffees, so that was one nice thing.”
There were nerves among the residents, Durbin said, but many took comfort knowing Fire and Emergency were “all over” the situation.
“It was pretty well organised,” he said.
“There were cordons and firefighters everywhere, the son watched YouTube and we were just chatting with neighbours and sitting in the car.”
At 5.45am, residents were given the green light to return to their properties after two and a half hours.
Returning home, Durbin said there was a stench in the air from the burning chemical truck, with the odd debris and ash scattered around.
“We read reports of debris elsewhere but the houses were thankfully all fine.”
As the hours progressed, the motorway began to clog with the usually busy Auckland traffic. By 6.30am, the streets of Papakura were gridlocked.
Newstalk ZB sports reporter, Andrew Alderson found himself trapped in downtown Papakura congestion.
“It’s mayhem at the moment,” he said.
“All you can see are red tail lights in every direction, I’ve never seen downtown Papakura like this before.”
A distance away from where the truck fire sparked, Alderson said a dozen emergency service vehicles remained parked up on the southern motorway.
“It’s wall-to-wall gridlock, people are trying to snake their way through [the traffic], but good luck.”
Twelve fire crews have been at the scene. The blaze has been contained to the truck, and there are no reports of injuries - but the motorway remains closed northbound between Papakura and Takanini and Waka Kotahi NZTA has urged motorists to avoid the area.
Chemcouriers, a subsidiary of Mainfreight, is understood to be the company whose truck caught fire.
Mainfreight’s managing director Don Braid said the driver of the Chemcouriers truck which went up in flames on Auckland’s Southern Motorway this morning is shaken up but is fine.
“He attempted to disconnect the trailer but the trailer was alight by the time he managed to try and disconnect and had to move away from the vehicle as quickly as he could,” said Braid.
“He’s fine and a little bit shaken up.”
Braid said the truck fire is under an internal investigation.
“We think either mechanical or electrical (cause of fire) but we have to get that investigation completed before we can confirm one or another.”
Braid said the truck was carrying a full load of aerosol cans of paint from a client in Rotorua.
The load was due to be delivered in Auckland.
The motorway between Papakura and Takanini reopened at 9.40am.