Firefighters contain blaze near highway

8th March 2010

Firefighters contained a scrub fire beside a busy part of State Highway 1 at Dome Valley, about 5km northwest of Warkworth in Northland.

The blaze spread rapidly in the windy conditions yesterday, covering about 240,000 square metres and threatening to cut off vehicle access between Auckland and Northland, before firefighters contained it.

Smoke from the smouldering scrub was still causing poor visibility on the highly-trafficked, high accident area.

Police were maintaining traffic diversion at Kaipara Flats Rd for northbound vehicles and on to SH16 at Wellsford for those southbound.

The fire was first reported to fire communications at 1.30pm, with a size of about 5000sq m. Fanned by steady winds, the fire had spread to cover about 40,000sq m in an hour, Fire service senior communicator Tania Matthews said earlier.

A helicopter and fire crews were continuing to dampen down hotspots in the area. NZPA