Waipoua River fire 50% contained; evacuated Northlanders still unable to return home

Flames and smoke from a scrub fire in the Waipoua Forest. Photo / Ōmāpere Volunteer Fire Brigade

A blaze tearing through more than 100ha at Waipoua River in Northland is still only 50% contained.

Incident Controller Corey Matchitt said evacuated residents are still unable to return home.

“We are working hard to secure the area around the settlement of vegetation so we can get residents back as soon as it is safe.”

Twenty properties in the Waipoua Settlement, in the Kaipara District, were evacuated on Wednesday night after the fire broke out about 2.15pm that day.

Some of them had to leave via the beach as flames blocked access to State Highway 12.

Residents were sent to Te Roroa’s nearby Waikara marae, which has been set up as a manaaki (support) centre.

Matchitt said people had today been able to briefly return home to pick up essentials.

Flames and smoke from a scrub fire in the Waipoua Forest. Photo / Ōmāpere Volunteer Fire Brigade

“We know this is a really hard time for everyone who is away from their home during this fire.

“Evacuating has meant everyone is safe and we are grateful to the whānau and everyone supporting them at this time.”

The fire has grown to 100ha in size with a 4.5km perimeter.

“This increase in size is a reflection of the fire moving out to our containment lines as planned,” Matchitt said.

Firefighters hoped to contain the fire by Saturday evening.

Three helicopters, four heavy machinery, 50 ground crew and 15 incident management team personnel are on site today.

“We have favourable conditions today with light winds, however, we still have very dry conditions, so we will be remaining vigilant,” Matchitt said.

No structures have been lost to the blaze.

Some homes were reportedly just metres away from the fire front.

Helicopters used monsoon buckets to douse properties with water to prevent them catching alight.

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Te Roroa Development Group general manager Snow Tane told RNZ some residents and firefighters on Wednesday became trapped and had to wait until helicopters went in and doused the area before they could evacuate.

Tane said the area around Dargaville north to the Hokianga was probably at its driest point this summer.