One of Auckland’s popular walking tracks has suffered significant damage from a fire on Sunday, which has forced its closure — just over a year after it re-opened to the public.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand were called to a vegetation fire at Fairy Falls Track in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park about 8am on Sunday.
The fire, which firefighters had to walk 25 minutes into the track to put out, was about 150m by 75m big — larger than a soccer field, or three Olympic-sized swimming pools laid end-to-end.
FENZ said the damage was significant.
Auckland Council western principal ranger Dave Markham said the fire destroyed a large platform near a popular swimming hole, as well as about 80m of stairs.
It also damaged a bridge that crossed the waterfall.
“All of these structures were recently installed to enable visitors to return in September 2024,” Markham said.
Fairy Falls Track re-opened in September 2024 after being closed for six years to prevent the spread of kauri dieback disease through the ranges.
The council spent $1.6 million to renew it before its grand opening last year.
Markham said they were grateful to FENZ for their hard work in containing the fire at a busy time of the year.
The track was now closed, and while the cost of damages was yet to be assessed, he said they would get to it as soon as the initial clean-up was completed.
“We’re extremely disappointed that, so close to summer, we’ve been forced to close this much-loved track.
“Fires in our regional parks are always devastating, but this one is particularly heart-breaking after all the work that went into renewing this track so we could reopen it last summer.”
Markham urged visitors not to light fires at regional parks.
“Our regional parks are precious taonga that we all have a responsibility to look after and protect for future generations.
“They are all smoke-free and fires are banned. I strongly urge visitors to think about whether their actions may impact on how we care for these beautiful areas — please don’t ever light fires.”
A FENZ spokesperson said its investigations into the cause of the blaze was still ongoing.
Six crews responded to the Sunday call, and the fire was fully extinguished about 12.45pm.
Meanwhile, multiple regional park paths in Auckland has been restored and reopened in the past six months, in time for summer.
All 54 tracks within northern regional parks are open, and only two of 25 tracks in the southern region parks network remain closed.
Of the 11 western regional park tracks that are closed, only three need further investigation and funding to determine the next steps.
Fairy Falls Track, Fletcher Track, Parau, Panto and Farley tracks and Whatitiri Track remain closed to the public.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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