Fire in Ahipara, Northland: three houses evacuated

At least three houses have been evacuated after a 2ha fire broke out in Northland.

It comes as emergency crews rush to fight three separate fires raging on the South Island: one in Tasman, one in Lake Ohau, and the third in Livingstone.

Northland Police are believed to be helping firefighters evacuate people in the vicinity of a wildfire near Ngakaroa Rd in Ahipara after the alarm was raised around 12:45 pm today.

Three nearby houses have been evacuated, more as a precaution, since at this stage the flames are not endangering the houses. No one is believed to have been injured in the fire, Northern Advocate reported.

The police have closed the lower part of Ngakuroa Rd to prevent people from coming to the site to “help”.

At 11.50 a.m. M., Firefighters were alerted to a wildfire in the Tasman district, off Abel Tasman Drive, in the Ligar Bay area.

Seven teams are fighting brush fire, which is 250 mx 250 m, with the help of two helicopters.

Meanwhile, dozens of houses on Lake Ohau in Waitaki district are believed to have been destroyed in a large forest fire believed to have been caused by an electric arc from power lines.

The fire was approximately 200 ha in size at 11:30 am with a very strong wind that made extinguishing conditions difficult.

Five helicopters are helping to fight the fire, and another is on the way.

A large forest fire has also broken out in the Livingstone settlement, about 30 km northwest of Oamaru.

Fire and Emergency NZ said it was alerted at 3.15 am to the pine forest fire on MacKenzie Rd. Several homes have been evacuated.

Sixteen teams, including a Dunedin command team, are trying to control the fire.

They are assisted by eight helicopters with rain buckets.