Titahi Bay Fire - Whitireia Park

This massive vegetation fire happened on the northern hills at Titahi Bay (Whitireia Park) on Thursday Jan 11th 2024. Could be seen from all over… there was a bright flash in the sky then a bang at around 11pm and everyone's power went out, then the fire. FENZ tried to contain it but the wind was not helping! Over 20 appliances were called from places like Porirua, Tawa, Wellington, Kilbirnie etc. Fire engines were unable to reach the actual fire so firefighters went in on foot with pumps. At 7am a helicopter from Wellington Helicopters started dumping water with a monsoon bucket. Over 10 hectares of vegetation had burnt

• As at 12.30am it's getting bigger due to high winds.

• As at 2am the fire is still raging. No threat to properties yet

• As at 5.30am it's burned around 10 hectares of bush, helicopter will be helping out this morning as it still burns and smolders

• As at 6.55am there is a helicopter and monsoon kicking off from the air. It is still not under control

• As at 8.30am a second helicopter from Wairarapa has joined in the fight

• As at 9.45am the fire is under control, the helicopters has helped immensely and teams are just mopping up now. A third helicopter from Kapiti has arrived

Credit to the original photo-takers - more added as they come in

Also, view a video of the aftermath here, taken from a helicopter the next day