“Our crews were doing a ground-based attack on the fire to prevent it spreading, but they couldn’t access the seat of the fire.”
An aerial view of the clifftop mansion and grounds of Graeme Hart in 2012. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A helicopter arrived around 5pm and the fire was out by 8.45pm, but a 111 caller told Fire and Emergency the area was again on fire just before 11pm.
About 25 firefighters responded and found the fire was “in the same area … but appeared to be further east than the one [in the] afternoon”, Pennefather said.
“We did request police to attend based on the information that it was further east, just because … it could be from an ember spread or it could be suspicious circumstances, but you’d have to check with police as to what information they have.”
Firefighters have since left the scene.
The second of two fires in vegetation near the billionaire Graeme Hart’s Glendowie mansion in Auckland last night. Photo / Auckland Police Maritime Unit
As far as he knew no police request had been made as of 6.45am for a fire investigator to go to the scene, Pennefather said.
Inquiries into the fires were “ongoing”, a police spokesman said this morning.
Robyn and Graeme Hart in 2019. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Hart, the private equity and packaging magnate, has an estimated fortune of $14.1 billion, according to this year’s NBR Rich List.
That put the 71-year-old in second place, after he was earlier overtaken by Zuru co-founders Nick and Mat Mowbray, with the toy entrepreneurs having an estimated combined wealth of $20b.
Hart owns 10 neighbouring sites on Riddell and Waitara roads, with combined rateable value in May 2024 of more than $91m, according to property records.
The highest value of these is a two-hectare site that’s home to an 878sq m Italian-style mansion and has a rateable value of $48m.
Graeme and Robyn Hart bought the site their mansion sits on for $2m in 1995. Photo / Brett Phibbs
In 2013, the Herald reported Hart had completed a huge new three-level banquet hall with a domed glass atrium and its own swimming pool and wine cellar, set in a large flat area overlooking the Hauraki Gulf.
Hart and wife Robyn bought the land in 1995 for $2m and built the house over a number of years.
Cherie Howie joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.