Fire closes down Far North power station
.
Fire closes down Far North power station
Northern News Friday, 21 November 2008
Northern News
FIRE HAZARD: A new fire rages at Ngawha, less than a day since fire destroyed more than 60 hectares of DOC land there. Inset: The corner of Ngawha village is closed off by police and fire crews.
Forestry workers were evacuated and fibre optic control cables linking parts of the power station were burnt through when the fire, which had been burning since Wednesday, flared up this afternoon.
A scrub fire which caused the Ngawha geothermal fire station in the Far North to be closed down was brought under control tonight.
"Once we knew we were going to lose those (fibre optic) controls, the station was closed down in an orderly fashion," he told tonight.
Top Energy chief executive Roger de Bray said the station was closed down about 4pm.
"If the fire flares up again they will call 111 but intrinsically it should be out," he said.
But by 9pm everybody at the station had been stood down, except two nightwatchmen and Mr de Bray said the Department of Conservation also had someone there.
Total damage would not be known until the morning and he did not know how long it would take for the power station to be fired up again. .
Department of Conservation fire crews regained control of the blaze using helicopters, backed up by the Fire Service.
The Ngawha Valley fire appeared to have been brought under control yesterday, but jumped Bannister Road into a Carter Holt Harvey forest about 3pm after flaring up again, said Fire Service spokesperson Jaron Phillips. At that stage forestry workers were being evacuated from the area because of the danger.
Earlier this evening he said the fire was "moving quite rapidly with the wind — it's out of control at the moment".
The fire had already burnt through private land and Maori land, as well as the Ngawha Conservation Area, Ngawha Scenic Reserve and the Lake Waiparaheka Scientific Reserve, regarded as a unique place because of the geothermal flora and fauna.
Police had also closed roads to the public in the area.
The first-floor fire was near the southern motorway, prompting a lot of calls from motorists, Mr Phillips said.
In Auckland, two people suffered burns to their hands and smoke inhalation after they were caught in a fire at a commercial unit on Great South Road in Manukau about 5pm.
–
.
The fire was extinguished within about half an hour and the two people were being treated by ambulance staff