![\"Clean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clean-up-at-the-fairy-falls-in-the-waitakere-ranges-followin-X5FCV3FR7BGHLGCA5P3LVEV5C4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA popular Auckland track will partially re-open to the public this weekend, after a fire ripped through the area last year.<\/p>\n
By Local Democracy Reporter Torika Tokalau<\/p>\n
Fairy Falls tracks in the Wait\u0101kere Ranges suffered significant damage from a fire last November, destroying a large platform near a popular swimming hole, 80m of stairs and a bridge that crossed the waterfall.<\/p>\n
Firefighters had to hike 25 minutes into the track to reach the blaze, which scorched an area about 150 by 75 metres \u2014 larger than a football field or three Olympic-sized swimming pools laid end to end.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council regional parks principal ranger David Markham said work has been underway in the area, and a section of the tracks will re-open on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Visitors will be able to return to the top of the waterfalls and enjoy the viewpoint, however access to the waterfalls and swimming hole will remain closed.<\/p>\n
Markham said they were working to restore access to the swimming hole as soon as it is realistically possible.<\/p>\n
“In the meantime, we hope that people will enjoy being able to return to see the falls and allow us to continue meeting conservation goals in this area,” Markham said.<\/p>\n
The closed section would need to meet the kauri safe requirements before it re-opened, he said.<\/p>\n
He warned of a complete closure of the entire track if visitors did not stay away from the closed parts of the track.<\/p>\n
“It is important for people to follow the signage and keep to the section of track that is open.<\/p>\n
“A complete closure may be required to protect the forest and maintain safety, if visitors don’t respect the ongoing closure of the lower track.”<\/p>\n
The fire occurred just over a year after the track re-opened.<\/p>\n
Before that, it was closed for six years to prevent the spread of kauri dieback disease through the ranges, with ratepayers forking out $1.6 million for its renewal.<\/p>\n
Markham said the cost of fire damage to the Fairy Falls track was currently estimated at $690,000.<\/p>\n
“Some impacts cannot be assessed in monetary terms, like the immediate impact on the health of ancient kauri trees and flora within this section of the forest.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Clean up at the Fairy Falls in the Wait\u0101kere Ranges, following a devastating fire on November 2, 2025. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
He said an ongoing challenge to was the need to prioritise projects that also require significant funding.<\/p>\n
“We are undertaking several major renewals this year to restore a few tracks that have remained closed since 2023 due to impacts from the severe weather events.”<\/p>\n
Henderson Massey councillor Shane Henderson welcomed the partial re-opening of a popular track.<\/p>\n
“The more we can open up safely is fantastic news for people in the city that like to hike at the ranges. A lot of hard work has been taken to get tracks open back up,” Henderson said.<\/p>\n
He reiterated the restriction advisory, and that council would close the whole track if rules weren’t followed.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. Rules are there for our environmental protection, let’s be good custodians of the rangers for the future generation.<\/p>\n
“Don’t ruin it for everybody else.”<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular Auckland track will partially re-open to the public this weekend, after a fire ripped through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,273,111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-397115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397115","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=397115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}