Crews respond to bush fire in Auckland bay

At its peak, Fire and Emergency had multiple firetrucks, water tankers and two helicopters tackling the blaze in Kawakawa Bay, which started early this afternoon.

A spokesperson said crews will stay on site at Kawakawa Bay Coast Road overnight to extinguish the fire, while others will re-assess it in the morning.

One home was evacuated as a 600-metre-wide vegetation fire ripped through a remote part of southeast Auckland.

Fire and Emergency said it responded to the blaze in Kawakawa Bay just after 1pm.

A witness near the fire, Lucan McArdle, said it appears to have started on what had been a stand of pines.

“When we first arrived we could see the fire actually happening.

“It was on the stumps from the old pine trees that were cut down a few years ago. Those were kind of what was on fire, and yeah, it would have been all the pine needles which have gone up.”

McArdle said it looked like the worst of the blaze was over.