Far North fire: Firefighters to leave Waiharara, but peat to burn for six months

Friday, 4 February 2022

The Waiharara fire near Kaimaumau is the biggest vegetation fires seen in decades in Te Tai Tokerau. District Manager Wipari Henwood explains why it’s such a complex operation. (Video first published January 19.)

Firefighters are scaling down their operations at the Waiharara fire, even though it may continue to burn in peat for another six months.

The fire, north of Kaitāia, started on December 18 and has burnt through 2800ha of mostly wetland scrub.

It twice caused the evacuation of the seaside village of Kaimaumau, as well as the evacuation of three houses north of the fire ground, although no buildings have been lost.

The centre of the 2800ha Waiharara fire will continue to burn and smoulder over winter. (Photo from January 16)

The Waiharara fire came close to Kaimaumau twice, forcing residents to evacuate. (Photo from January 1)

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Controlling the fire included leaving parts of it to burn, to clear containment lines. (Photo from January 17)

At the height of the fire, up to 80 firefighters from around the country and eight helicopters battled the blaze.

But Fire and Emergency NZ Far North area manager Wipari Henwood said firefighters would start to wind down their operations from Monday.

The firefighters had managed to establish containment lines about 40m wide all around the fire, which would help keep surrounding properties safe, he said.

But the middle of the fire, in the Kaimaumau wetlands, was inaccessible.

“There’s quite a large area of peat in the middle that’s still burning. We can’t put that out, it’s too dangerous – we can’t put any heavy machinery there,” Henwood said.

The Department of Conservation's Aroha Hughes explains how the Waiharara fire is impacting some of the rare species living in the Kaimaumau wetlands scientific reserve. (Video first published January 7.)

“It will probably burn until winter when the water table rises … If the forecast rain comes it will go some way to extinguishing it, but we will be more confident maybe in August.”

As firefighters reduced their efforts, the land would be handed back to the owners to manage. The majority belongs to the Department of Conservation and Ngai Takoto iwi.

After Monday, one or two fire crews would remain to monitor the containment lines and talk to the public, with the monitoring set to last for about 10 days.

Henwood said Fire and Emergency had been educating nearby landowners and residents about what was normal activity and what was concerning.

Residents could expect to see the peat in the middle of the fire ground smoking and burning, but they should call 111 if they saw a fire at the perimeter, he said.

DOC Kaitāia liaison officer Abe Witana said the local community now had a good understanding of what to look out for.

The fire burnt right up to State Highway 1 and also damaged some wāhi tapu, culturally sacred sites. (Photo from January 6.)

A big concern, however, was visitors who might get concerned when they saw smoke while driving up to Cape Reinga, he said.

While fires have regularly occurred in the wetlands, the last fire of such scale, in 1988, continued to burn for nine months, he said.

Fire and Emergency has used drones to identify hotspots, and their use will continue, with parts of the peat likely to burn for nine months. (Photo from January 15.)

Ten-year recovery plan will be needed

Once monitoring was finished, DOC, iwi and the community could develop and implement a recovery plan, Witana said.

Recovery would likely take at least 10 years, with the plan aiming to regain normality of life, restore environmental, economic, social and cultural wellbeing, and build community resilience.

Restoring biodiversity, and clearing weeds like Sydney golden wattle and pampas, would be key, he said.

“One of the first things the kaitiaki wanted to do was to start pulling out all the Sydney golden wattle before it gets too big.”

Historic sites and sites of cultural heritage would also have to be identified and cared for, with the fire already damaging some wāhi tapu sites, including exposing remains.

The recovery plan would also involve preventing such a large fire occurring again, including maintaining firebreaks, Witana said.

“Landowners and the community want to ensure that there is an agency or somebody is accountable for maintaining the firebreaks that have been developed.”

But before anyone went into the wetland, more work needed to be done to establish which areas were safe and which were still burning, Witana said.

An initial assessment found some peat was burning up to 3m deep, creating a real danger for anyone on the ground, he said.

Drones with thermal imaging cameras would continue to be used to identify these hotspots.

More funding from the likes of central Government would be needed to implement the recovery plan, and Witana said the community had been let down by agencies after previous fires.

“Over the past four fires, Government agencies have come in and offered things, and then there has been no action or follow-up.

“The agencies never came through or lived up to their promises.”