Urgent Update: 2.08pm
Everyone is to evacuate Kaimaumau Village immediately due to the fire near the village.
Take a change of clothing and assemble at the Waiharara School.
Authorised by John Sutton, Incident Controller, Northland Fire and Emergency.
Northland Fire and Emergency this morning announced that people have been requested to keep away from the beaches surrounding the Kaimaumau area, which is north of Kaitaia, while fire personnel deal with a resurgence of the backing fire that flared up on New Year's Eve.
Because ground teams and a helicopter are working in the area, the beach access route north of Kaimaumau has been blocked this morning.
Northland Fire and Emergency incident controller, John Sutton, said the fire area is off bounds to both locals and visitors.
“This is an active fire and we cannot ensure the safety of any member of the public who chooses to go in there,” he says.
The fire has been brought under control but it continues to burn within a 31 km radius. Fires are still burning inside the firebreaks, and there are also fire-damaged trees, deep holes dug by gum diggers, underground peat fires and wetland regions to contend with.
Sutton says, “We ask everyone in the Kaimaumau, Waiharara and Houhora area to please think about the safety of their whānau and friends, and stay well away from the fireground.”
“Fires are dynamic and the situation can change very quickly,” he says.