Fire at Otaika Accommodation Park cabin, Whangārei, forces NorthTec students from classroom
A video posted to social media showed smoke billowing from the park to Te Pūkenga NorthTec next door.
Smoke could be seen billowing across Raumanga on Monday afternoon during a fully involved cabin fire. Photo / Supplied
A voice could be heard telling people to 'get out of the smoke' over the top of the sound of a fire alarm.
A NorthTec spokeswoman said a classroom on the campus chose to self-evacuate because of the smoke.
A fire investigator will look into the cause of the blaze.
Otaika Accommodation Park was unavailable for comment.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
4 days ago
- Scoop
Follow Burning Rules, NRC Urges
Northlanders are being asked to follow the rules - and be courteous - or risk fines and other penalties as the pre-Winter burning season comes to an end. Group Manager - Regulatory Services, Colin Dall, says in a typical year roughly a quarter of all calls to the Northland Regional Council's 24/7 incident hotline (0800 504 639) involve complaints about burning and/or associated smoke nuisance. He says while for a long time the council had typically preferred to educate rather than take enforcement action, its approach had toughened in recent years as backyard burning continued to generate large numbers of complaints. The harder line also applies to those caught breaching the rules at industrial and trade premises. "Open burning at industrial or trade premises is not permitted under our Proposed Regional Plan and businesses breaching this rule are now more likely to receive a $1000 instant fine, rather than the warning they may have got previously." Mr Dall says burning on trade and industrial premises must be done in an "incineration device", which the Plan defines as: A device made from non-combustible materials designed to burn waste that: contains all embers and sparks has a grate and lid or spark arrestor, and is not used to generate energy. He says an open 44-gallon (170 litre) drum is not deemed to be an incineration device. "Those breaching the rules are liable for enforcement action which can range from instant fines of up to $1000, abatement notices and prosecution - the latter with the risk of much stiffer penalties - through the courts. Mr Dall says last year the council had issued 38 infringement notices ranging from $300 to $1000, 56 abatement notices and there had been two court-ordered enforcement orders for burning-related incidents. He says the council's Proposed Regional Plan effectively bans backyard burning in the more densely populated Whangārei urban area. "People living within the Whangārei city airshed - which is roughly bordered by Maunu, Onerahi, Tikipunga, Springs Flat and Hurupaki - can only burn some waste materials during the period from 01 September to 31 May the following year if the size of their property exceeds one hectare or they have a resource consent to burn." "Only waste that is paper, untreated wood, cardboard or vegetation can be burnt." Mr Dall says Northlanders outside the Whangārei urban area can still have outside fires, providing; they don't cause offensive or objectionable smoke or odour to neighbours if the fire is going to last for more than 24 hours and is within 100 metres of a smoke sensitive area, the person lighting it needs to notify all neighbours within 100 metres of the fire they don't obscure vision along a public road fires only contain waste that is paper, untreated wood, cardboard and vegetation (or animal remains where the burning is on agricultural land). (This ability to have fires obviously does not apply when restricted fire season or fire bans are in place.) Mr Dall says in general the regional council is keen to encourage alternatives to backyard burning (regardless of location) wherever possible. "Waste vegetation can be composted or mulched, larger branches can be used as firewood and paper and other materials can usually be recycled." If waste vegetation is being burnt, a lot of problems can be easily avoided just by ensuring it has been given plenty of time to dry out, rather than burning it green. However, Mr Dall says even if some burning is allowed, council rules and national regulations specifically ban the burning of some materials on health and environmental grounds. These include rubber tyres, coated metal wires, treated timber, plastic containers, motor vehicle parts and waste oil. Mr Dall says general information on the rules around backyard burning - including a more detailed map of the existing Whangārei airshed - is also available at:
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Perhaps we should wait a bit before changing road signs
"Kia ora" — and that's about it when I chance my arm with a bit of Māori. I grew up in a small South Island city with little Māori presence, although one house was called "the Māori house" simply because of the family who lived there. In 11 years of schooling, only one Māori boy featured at roll call and the only word we heard much of was "haka". I now realise that at least one other Māori word had enriched my vocabulary although at the time I assumed it was just another old English saying. It was often use by older blokes seeking a break from work and it sounded something like "tie ho". The recent brouhaha (yes, my French is OK) over road signs in Māori in Hawke's Bay reminded me that the word I remembered from boyhood was actually taihoa, a Māori word meaning something like "wait" or "by and by". Without waiting, I dived into the word's history and found it was one of the earliest Māori words to find general acceptance among Pākehā settlers. In those days it was a less than complimentary term among the go-getting newcomers. Of his early days in Auckland Sir John Logan Campbell wrote of "detesting the procrastinating ways of Māori workmen who kept on saying 'Taihoa – wait, all in good time, there's no hurry'." Some of his contemporaries, delving into the language, insisted that taihoa was used rather with regard to debts which were owed by Māori rather that postponing any duties they were expected to carry out. The word could be applied to Pākehā as well. One chief requested in 1857 that the government would allow him to sell land, complaining that the head of the Native Land Purchase Department, Donald McLean, would fob him off with "'taihoa (by and bye)' until he was tired." He then applied to the Governor who also said "taihoa". During the rest of the 19th century taihoa was commonly used by both races and among Pākehā began to be used as something of an insult to Māori, rather along the lines of the deplorable use of "Māori time" to mean "late" or "any old time". One flax mill owner complained, "no dependence whatever can be placed on their promises to do anything within a given time. 'Taihoa' being one of the first words the meaning of which a stranger learns to his cost who may have trusted to their punctuality." Thankfully, in later times, the word was used inoffensively to indicate "wait a bit" and became popular from the 1900s when James Carroll, the native minister, aimed to slow the sale of Māori land and this gave rise to the phrase "the taihoa policy" which can still be applied to politicians slow to honour their promises. Think, "Minister Brown's taihoa policy has delayed building Dunedin's new hospital." Taihoa can be found in many contexts. In 1950 the Northern Advocate, enthusing about a new-found rugby star, 18-year-old Peter Jones, suggested the All Black selectors "taihoa" on account of his youth. In the same year a Whanganui magistrate fined Māori farmers for failing to clear ragwort. "Māoris must deal with noxious weeds just the same as Europeans. The taihoa policy will not help you; it will just involve you in very heavy fines," pronounced the upholder of the law. So, it's fair to say "taihoa" is pretty well established among New Zealand speakers and I'm wondering if it may be a better road sign than "Stop". "Stop" is certainly an effective word, but can it be too effective? Taken literally at a compulsory stop, it would oblige the motorist to stop his vehicle. Motorists behind him would also stop and, because the leading car is given no further instructions, it would remain static until the traffic had backed up for about 10km and the resulting traffic rage would possibly lead to serious injuries. However, "Taihoa" at a compulsory stop would simply suggest "wait a bit". The motorist could wait, checking for traffic from either direction, and then move on, thus avoiding rampant road rage. Thus, at road works "Taihoa" is ideal as it suggest a wait rather than a permanent stoppage. The signs in Māori at the heart of the recent debate used "Haere" instead of "Go". "Haere" certainly has a meaning of moving but many motorists would be confused, thinking it was simply a greeting as in "haere mai". The solution may well lie in a comment from Ernest Corbett, Minister of Māori Affairs in the 1950s, who suggested that the opposite of "taihoa" was a term he heard often in his Taranaki base, "kia tore". "It means get on with it," said Corbett. On reflection, I've decided this is all too messy. Let's just use "Stop" and "Go" but hold the pole in a sort of Māori way. — Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
NZ Herald
27-05-2025
- NZ Herald
On The Up: Nearly one million pests trapped in 12 years, Northland kiwi population thrives
Northlanders are trapping about 2300 pests a week, allowing native wildlife, including kiwi, to thrive. Trap catch data collated by Kiwi Coast showed that, in 2024, 120,520 pests were trapped, averaging 2300 a week. The data is collated annually from Kiwi Coast's network of landowners, community groups and hapū-led
