Thick smoke, road closures as firefighters fight scrub fire around Auckland’s Newton Rd overbridge

A scrub fire next to the northwestern motorway in central Auckland has closed roads and sent thick smoke around the central city.

Fire and Emergency NZ said a large number of firefighters were sent to fight the fire, which was burning in vegetation around and under the Newton Rd overbridge on Auckland’s State Highway 16.

The fire was reported just before midnight. At 2am it had been extinguished but there was still a large amount of smoke and road closures were still in place, Fenz said.

“Smoke from the fire is noticeable over a wide area – we recommend people keep windows closed.”

Auckland City assistant commander Barry Fox said when firefighters arrived the blaze was well established in the bush area. It had then moved up into the service ducts that feed under the Newton Rd overbridge, making it “quite a challenging fire”.

“It was quite awkward to get water to that location so we’ve had people on top of the bridge firing water through gaps in the road and the bridge structure, and also fighting the fire from underneath from down on the lower motorway.”

Smoke had filled Newton Gully and surrounding areas, and there had been multiple calls to Fenz about smoke in buildings in the area. Many staff were using breathing apparatus due to the smoke.

Newton Rd overbridge was closed and was being inspected by civil engineers to see what the damage was, he said, confirming there was potentially damage to the bridge’s earthquake protection dampeners.