Waikato Wetland fire update #9
23 Whiringa-ā-nuku 2024
The large vegetation fire near Meremere is now under control.
Fire and Emergency was able to stand down its air operations around 5pm with the fire now contained and controlled.
The fire remains at 1024 hectares with a 15-kilometre perimeter.
Incident Controller Mark Tinworth praised his crews for their efforts to get the fire to this point.
"This is a significant milestone for us as we do not expect the fire to grow any larger in size.
"We will have drones operating overnight to keep an eye out for reignition of the fire and to identify and monitor hotspots and flareups.
"We will continue to have a presence at the site tomorrow as this fire will take some time to fully extinguish due to where it is burning in peat and wetland."