Te Puna Wildfire Evacuee Praises Emergency Responders As Investigation Continues

A father in one of the 10 Te Puna households evacuated as an “intense” wildfire threatened homes has praised emergency responders, who remain at the scene two days later.
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The fire started on Snodgrass Rd, west of Tauranga, about 3.20pm on Wednesday and a Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) statement on Friday morning said one crew remained at the scene after drone flights identified “two hotspots of concern” overnight.

Fenz incident controller William Pike told the Bay of Plenty Times on Thursday a helicopter and monsoon bucket, 16 fire appliances, dozens of firefighters and thermal-imaging drones helped contain the blaze at its peak on Wednesday.

Kiwifruit vines and kilometres of shelter belt were damaged but no injuries or damaged properties have been reported. Investigations continued but he said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.

A resident who did not want to be named said he and his family were asked by police to evacuate about 5pm on Wednesday because of the “pretty intense” fire across the road. “Naturally some people were worried when we heard the fire was threatening some properties but there was no sense of panic as the firefighters had all their hydrants out on the road and had plenty of water.”

The family headed to Bethlehem Shopping Centre for groceries, then ate takeaways in their car. They returned home about 8.30pm and found neighbours queueing at the Armstrong Rd and Snodgrass Rd intersection waiting for the police all-clear to return to their properties. He credited firefighters and police for their efforts to keep people and property safe. He said he understood Copperfield Nurseries on Snodgrass Rd suffered significant damage to some of its trees and a neighbour lost a large shelter belt. The Bay of Plenty Times has contacted the nursery.

Pike, who is also the Fenz Tauranga group assistant commander, said the origin of the fire had been identified and was “non-suspicious”. Investigations would continue. He said at the scene on Thursday that firefighters were monitoring for hot spots with thermal-imaging drones and dampening down flare-ups.

“Due to the very unique wind conditions from the west on Wednesday afternoon, the fire took hold and it was a very fast-moving fire with several properties under threat. The fire spread, mainly through spot fires that jumped from a specific point to find the next closest location. “Once the fire gets into shelter belts, the vegetation inside is so dry it becomes quite volatile.”

The fire spread to an area of up to two square kilometres. “It is quite a large area and we worked out that the amount of shelter belt damaged was about 3.8km, but it’s in a confined area.”
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During the height of the fire, there were about 16 fire appliances and “multiple support vehicles“ and between 40 to 60 firefighters, which included crews from Whakatāne, Waihī, some towards Rotorua Lakes and a crew from Matamata. “This was a big response equivalent to what we call a fourth alarm response.” Pike said a helicopter was brought in on Wednesday night to allow the use of monsoon buckets “up until the twilight hours” and fire crews worked overnight to contain the blaze. There was a flare-up about 1am on Thursday but “our firefighters did a good job to control it very quickly”.

Another Snodgrass Rd resident, who also asked not to be named, said he spotted a flare-up on Thursday night in shelter belts on two neighbouring properties and he used about 4000 litres of water to dampen the embers and keep the “fire at bay”. He called 111 about 3.20pm on Wednesday after seeing smoke on a neighbouring property, then part of a shelter belt on fire. He said the first fire truck and water cart from Greerton station arrived about 15 to 20 minutes later. Wind quickly spread the fire to another neighbour’s shelter belt. ”Embers from flames were being blown up into the air and landing on other parts of the shelter belt. The fire was moving at a fair pace and the flames were jumping up over the top of the shelter belt and moving onto the next section of the belt.”

When the second fire truck arrived, “everyone was panicking” and worried it could reach the second property owner’s home, which at one stage was almost surrounded by three blazing shelter belts. He said firefighters did an “amazing job” to stop the fire reaching the home, and it was fortunate that no homes were damaged and no one injured. The man said he was not asked to evacuate but moved out of the danger area.

​A police spokesman said evacuating residents was a “difficult situation” to manage with “many emotions experienced by residents”, but it was necessary. “Some wished to remain at their properties. However, for the safety of residents and for emergency services to be effective in controlling the fire, evacuations were required.” Residents returned home about 8pm, he said.