Titahi Bay fire update #3

12 January 2024

The vegetation fire at Titahi Bay has been contained, with helicopters and ground crews now working hard to eliminate hotspots ahead of a windy forecast on Saturday.

Three helicopters are in constant operation with monsoon buckets this morning to make use of the favourable conditions present. Seven ground crews also remain at the scene.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Incident Controller Nick Pyatt says today will be an important day to get on top of the fire.

"With the weather forecast for high winds tomorrow, we want to get as much of this fire out as possible.

"Our crews have done a great job to keep it contained to where they have, and now it's a case of getting as much of it out as we can today."

The fire has not grown significantly in size since this morning. It still sits at around 10 hectares.

The helicopters and ground crews will be on the scene for the rest of today and monitoring overnight, with further crews expected to be at the scene on Saturday.

A drone crew will attend in the afternoon to help identify hotspots.