Waipoua River fire update #3

27 February 2025

The fire at Waipoua River remains uncontained, although crews have made good progress on Thursday.

Following more accurate mapping, the fire size has been updated to 96 hectares with a 4.5-kilometre perimeter.

Incident Controller Corey Matchitt says the ground crews had been working hard to get the fire contained.

“It has been hard mahi for our teams on the ground, but they have worked well in conjunction with the five heavy machinery operators and eight helicopters in the air.

“We continue to have structure protection in place and no structures have been lost to fire.”

The residents of 20 homes remain evacuated and were updated at a community meeting this morning.

The fire will be a long duration incident, but Corey Matchitt says the evacuees remain at the front of mind.

“It can be really stressful to be out of your home when a fire is near, so we are doing our best to get them back home, but only when it is safe to do so.

“We are looking into if managed access is possible for people to retrieve important belongings or to check on the welfare of animals.”