Makorori fire disrupts State Highway 35 traffic over weekend

Traffic along State Highway 35 near Makorori was disrupted by a large fire at the roadside which nearly encroached on to the road and into nearby bush on Saturday evening.

Bruce Reid was travelling home from a theatre rehearsal in town just after 10pm when he saw flames coming over the top of the hill slope at the side of the road about a kilometre away from Makorori settlement.

“It was pretty scary. I thought a car had gone over and was on fire,” Reid said.

Reid was the third member of the public to come across the scene and firefighters arrived only minutes after him with two fire trucks and a third smaller one.

He said his video didn’t do justice to the size of the fire because firefighters had gotten it mostly under control at that point and it had looked to him like it was spreading fairly quickly towards nearby native bush before then.

“Flames would have brushed your car if you were coming up,” Reid said. “People nearby would have seen the hillside glowing.”

He estimated he was there for about an hour while traffic management was in place and police took a statement from him.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said firefighters responded to the 50-metre by 30m fire about 10.20pm.

It took about 30 minutes for firefighters to bring it under control.

Police provided traffic management out of concern the smoke could potentially cause traffic issues. They finished at the scene by 12.20am.