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Rotorua Hit By Strong Winds As Crews Respond

13/11/2025

Fire and Emergency crews were called to 26 weather-related incidents in the Bay of Plenty overnight and power was out to thousands of properties.

Evidence of the strong winds could be seen across the Bay, with trees and branches scattered across streets and footpaths. The 26 callouts were all between 6pm-8am, a Fire and Emergency spokeswoman said, and were mostly for downed trees.

A shed was blown over in Rotorua and a tarpaulin came loose on a roof in Tauranga. There were also several reports of roofs lifting in Rotorua.

Rotorua Lakes Council said on its website that it had received multiple calls about trees and branches coming down in the “wild” weather. “The northeasterlies also pushed lake weed towards the lakefront, resulting in a fairly large stranding. “[The] council and its partners will work on a plan to deal with the lake weed, and contractors, who have been busy since the early hours of the morning, are continuing to clear sites today.”

A Unison spokesperson said about 7000 Rotorua customers were impacted by outages overnight, including parts of Ngongotahā, Fairy Springs, Lake Ōkāreka, from Titikere to Ōwhata, and areas north of Lake Rotoiti. Just over 700 customers in the Rotorua area were still experiencing unplanned outages this morning. “We understand how disruptive power outages can be, and our crews are working as quickly and safely as possible to get all customers reconnected.”

MetService recorded peak northeasterly gusts of 83km/h in Rotorua about midnight.

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Devastating Speed & Nearly 3000 Hectares of National Park Lost

11/11/2025

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Fire and Emergency crews in Tongariro National Park will be back at the scene of wildfires, hoping for more rain to keep hotspots damp. Favourable conditions on Monday meant the fire appeared to be extinguished.

Thermal imaging drones were expected to be used overnight to check for hotspots after fires that had turned more than 2800 hectares of land to ash.

MetService forecasts rain clearing in region from early Tuesday morning and then fine, aside from isolated showers. Incident Controller Nigel Dravitzki told Checkpoint the favourable conditions had helped reduce the fire, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

"Visibility it looks out, but we are doing thermal imaging and drones over it tonight to see if we can pick up any activity or hots spots we can't see." He said this type of fire would require walking the perimeter edge and digging up hot spots to confirm there was no fire activity. "It is tough grunt work," he said. Next steps were working on how to manage the situation going forward, he said.

Fire and Emergency NZ have shared new photos of the Tongariro fire. "Our people continue to work tirelessly alongside our partner agencies battling the Tongariro wildfire," a spokesperson said. Though the cause of the fire was yet to be determined, "this fire shows the devastating speed, aggression and destruction fire has on our whenua," they added.

Meanwhile, an iwi representative said the rāhui over the scene will give the whenua time to breathe. Two rāhui have been put in place, covering the Tongariro Alpine Crossing track and any burnt areas.

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro representative Te Ngaehe Wanikau said: "The restoration is not about excluding, it's not prohibiting. "Wanikau said the restorative rāhui was not in the usual sense of rāhui, which happens after a tragedy. A restorative rāhui was about focusing on bringing the area back to what it should be, he said. The "greatest" fear was the burnt area going into the "too hard basket and then we see yellow flowers of broom all over our mountain."

The rāhui was an opportunity for "everyone and anyone" to focus on making it a restorative project that showed what the area could look like if the problem was dealt with. He said they would work with agencies to determine the extent of the damage.

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Fire Crews Battle Blaze At Popular Rotorua Tourist Attraction

4/11/2025

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A lamp was the cause of a fire that destroyed a performance area at Mitai Māori Village overnight, the owner says. Fire and Emergency NZ was called to the Rotorua tourist attraction just before 10pm and found a large building and nearby bush on fire. The fire was extinguished and crews left around 2.30am.

In a social media video post this morning, village owner Wetini Mitai-Ngatai walked the viewers through the burned area, showing the completely destroyed performance area, including many “beautiful” carvings.

He said he was thankful the kawakawa and kauri were still standing and there was still nearby birdlife. He said “someone” was watching over the site last night to ensure the wind didn’t blow the flames in the direction of the bush. “It is what it is ... That’s the way it is. Just got to get up and have another go.“ He said they were going to be busy today creating another performance area in nearby bush.

“We have to be nimble and move around. There are a few things we can do ... The show will go on. Just got to carry on.“ He said they moved to those premises, at the northern entrance of Rotorua, in 2000 and started “with no money”. He said they had rebuilt before and would do it again.

“This our fifth village. A lot of work went into it.” In a post last night, Mitai-Ngatai said they were just 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, so yeah, it comes down to resilience. Just got to get up and have another go.” Mitai-Ngatai said they appreciated everyone’s messages of concern. “Everybody is here, the whānau is here, and we are just planning what we will do with the next stage.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Ryan Geen said last night they received multiple calls from the public at 9.50pm about a fire at the village, at the northern entrance to Rotorua. A crew was sent from Rotorua and found a large building, about 40m by 30m, on fire. Geen said an area of bush near the building had also caught on fire. Additional fire crews were called from Ngongotahā, Mamakū, Kawerau, Rotoma, Lake Ōkareka, Tauranga and Greerton. Water tankers were also sent because fire crews were having trouble with the water supply, he said.

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