Firefighters spend night pouring water on to burning timber yard

Volunteer firefighters at Helensville, northwest of Auckland, spent the night pouring water onto a burning pile of firewood after a late night alarm.

The firewood yard, about 30km northwest of Auckland, was burning fiercely when volunteers arrived about 11pm.

Helensville chief fire officer Laurence Stokes, said two appliances poured water on the burning heap of firewood for seven hours.

He said it was still smouldering at first light and they planned to turn it over with a machine to get at the deep seated fire.

The fire destroyed a tractor and badly damaged sawbenches.

- NZPA