{"id":325880,"date":"2026-03-12T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325880\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T11:50:11","slug":"christchurch-residents-told-to-evacuate-after-high-risk-explosive-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325880\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch residents told to evacuate after ‘high-risk explosive’ found"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Police<\/p>\n

\nThe police cordon at Sheffield Crescent in Christchurch.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Anna Sargent\n<\/p>\n

A substance earlier described as a ‘high-risk explosive’ and which triggered an evacuation notice, has been made safe<\/p>\n

Cordons were in place around Sheffield Crescent in the Christchurch suburb of Burnside, after police were alerted to the substance shortly before 2.30pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n

They have since lifted.<\/p>\n

Police said they received a report of a “concerning substance” and sent an emergency mobile alert to people nearby.<\/p>\n

“All members of the public are advised to immediately evacuate the area in the vicinity of Sheffield Cres Burnside Christchurch and surrounding area due to high-risk explosive substance located,” the alert said.<\/p>\n

\"Residents<\/p>\n

\nResidents in Burnside received an emergency alert warning of a ‘high risk explosive substance’.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

Some businesses were evacuated, including Orion and a dance studio on Sheffield Cres.<\/p>\n

Kate Limuloa, of Silhouette Studios, told RNZ she left just after 3pm. She said none of her 15 dance students received the alert.<\/p>\n

A nearby gym told RNZ that only one client received an emergency alert.<\/p>\n

Christchurch Airport has confirmed it was not affected.<\/p>\n

“The substance has been made safe and Police will be making further routine enquiries,” police said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The police cordon at Sheffield Crescent in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ\/Anna Sargent A substance earlier described as a ‘high-risk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-325880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}