As flames tore through Rotorua’s Mitai Māori Village, owner Wetini Mitai Ngatai rushed towards the blaze, fire extinguisher in hand.
Flames climbed the fence bordering trees before leaping into the village’s performance area.
He saw a single kauri tree alight - “poof” - all the way up.
The extinguisher was no use; the flames already “too big”, he said.
So Mitai Ngatai watched, as you do in “shocking” moments when there’s nothing left but to stand and see it burn.
Fire and Emergency NZ was called to the Rotorua tourist attraction just before 10pm on Tuesday and found a large building and nearby bush on fire.
About 50 firefighters battled the blaze for several hours before leaving the scene about 2.30am on Wednesday.
Mitai Ngatai and his team had been gathered in the kitchen when a shout came from one of the staff: “Hey, there’s a fire out there ... It’s burning”.
Photos showed a large plume of grey smoke billowing into the sky. A woman who saw the blaze that night said it could be seen from a long way away.
The building was left gutted.
Image 1 of 10: Damage after a fire at Mitai Maori Village. Photo / Annabel Reid
The performance area was a space where stories, song, and haka brought Māori culture to life for visitors from around the world.
Mitai Ngatai said it provided employment, pride, and purpose for local whānau, giving young performers a place to learn, grow, and carry their traditions forward.
For him, it wasn’t just a stage, but a place that helped Māori culture “survive and thrive”, providing employment, joy and pride.
A kapa haka legend himself, Mitai Ngatai retired as leader of Te Mātārae-i-Ōrehu in 2023 after three decades of powerful, award-winning performances that inspired a generation.
Reflecting on the beginnings of Mitai Māori Village, Mitai Ngatai said they had started with nothing - and now have nothing again.
But he wasn’t defeated.
You just “roll with the punches”, he said, and “I’m not even a boxer”.
Mitai Ngatai believed a lamp was the cause of a fire that destroyed a performance area.
Fire and Emergency group manager Brendon Grylls said the investigation was still under way, but it was not treating it as suspicious.
Grylls described the “rapidly developing” fire as “devastating”.
It was the second blaze the city had seen in the past three weeks after Whakarewarewa Rugby Community Sports Club - the city’s oldest rugby club - lost its clubrooms in a fire that destroyed photos, trophies and precious club memorabilia.
The fires so close together would have an impact on the community, Grylls said.
“You feel for them.”
Grylls said firefighters did a “really good job” confining the fire to the building, with the wind thankfully blowing flames away from trees.
Ngongotahā, Mamakū, Kawerau, Rotoma, Lake Ōkareka, Tauranga and Greerton firefighters helped the Rotorua crew.
Fire and Emergency shift manager Ryan Geen said water tankers were also sent as crews were having trouble with the water supply.
Police were asked to help with traffic management. There were fire hoses over the road, so the road had to be closed, a police spokesperson said.
In a social media post on Tuesday night, Mitai Ngatai said he was glad no one was hurt.
“Everyone is fine, everyone is safe. We lost the performance area, but we didn’t lose the bush, and we didn’t lose anybody.”
Mitai Ngatai was confident the village would come back from this.
In a sign of support and sympathy, he received multiple calls from people checking in, along with several community members joining together for the clean-up.
Mitai Ngatai said performances would continue in the forest area, used when Mitai Māori Village first opened.
It was a “lovely area”, he said, and would still offer visitors a beautiful, authentic experience.
Visitors were expected to arrive today, as the show must go on.
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell said her thoughts were with Mitai Māori Village as they rebuild.
Employing many locals, the village was also a “much-loved” attraction for visitors, Tapsell said.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.