A large amount of smoke could be seen at Whangārei heads.
Photo: Susan Edmunds

A large vegetation fire in Whangārei Heads in Northland has triggered Fire and Emergency response.

Evacuations are underway for a number of homes nearby.

Crews were called shortly after 2pm Thursday to the blaze on Whangārei Heads Road between Onerahi and Tamaterau.

Ten trucks and four helicopters are in attendance.

Fire and Emergency’s Northland District manager Wipari Henwood says a number of houses are being evacuated, and crews are undertaking a reconnaissance flight to confirm how many structures are at risk.

He says the fire is burning in a “problematic area”, with numerous access points.

Photo: RNZ / Susan Edmonds

A large amount of smoke can be seen at Whangārei Heads. A resident in the area says it is smoky.

Another resident said the fire was scary and bigger than she had seen in previous years.

The resident, who did not want to be named, lives about a kilometre from the fire.

She said she could see flames and several helicopters pouring buckets of water onto the fire.

They have had bush fires previously, she said, but not at the scale she has seen today.

Smoke at Whangārei Heads from a vegetation fire can be seen from the water.
Photo: Supplied / Diane Green

Ryan Houbar lives near Whangārei’s port and said the smoke from the fire had been drifting over from across the harbour and was visible from where he was at Port Nikau.

“There’s this big plume of smoke coming off it and it’s coming down through where we are down at the port and it looks like quite a large fire. We can definitely smell it all down here and it’s getting pretty hazy down here.”

The weather has been mostly dry for a couple of weeks, with all but a few instances of light showers, he said.

Whangārei District Council says Whangārei Heads Road is closed at the Beach Road intersection and motorists should use Mt Tiger Road to access Whangārei Heads.

More to come…