{"id":577890,"date":"2026-08-23T14:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/577890\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T14:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T14:18:15","slug":"pretty-scary-wanaka-residents-describe-moment-large-blaze-broke-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/577890\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pretty scary’: W\u0101naka residents describe moment large blaze broke out"},"content":{"rendered":"

W\u0101naka residents have described the “scary” moment a large vegetation fire broke out near homes last night, forcing 22 households to evacuate.<\/p>\n

Fire crews were notified of the blaze in Albert Town at 7.30 last night, with crews from W\u0101naka, Luggate, Lake Hawea and Cromwell responding.<\/p>\n

The fire broke out behind residential houses on Lagoon Ave, Hunt Pl and McLellan Pl, running through around a kilometre of trees and scrub.<\/p>\n

W\u0101naka residents shocked as huge fire tears through Albert Town – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The blaze forced the evacuation of 22 homes overnight, though its cause remains unknown. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

In an update this morning, fire officials said the fire was out and contained, with residents returning to their homes shortly after 10pm last night. <\/p>\n

The cause of the blaze was still unknown. <\/p>\n

Local resident Max Messenger told 1News he heard a knock on his door at around 7.30 last night.<\/p>\n

“It was an unknown voice, and she said, there’s a huge fire along the bank. You need to evacuate now,” he said. <\/p>\n

\"Wānaka<\/p>\n

W\u0101naka resident Max Messenger said he heard a knock at the door at around 7.30pm when the blaze broke out. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“It was pretty scary. We’re a bit jaded today.”<\/p>\n

Northlake resident April Coutts said she could see the “huge” blaze from her house.<\/p>\n

“We just jumped straight in the truck to investigate and see if people were okay, if they needed help,” she said. <\/p>\n

“It was insane. It was just crazy.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The aftermath of last night’s blaze. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Assistant district commander Nic McQuillan said yesterday the Albert Town blaze was contained by eight pumping appliances and three support vehicles.<\/p>\n

“However, conditions are very windy, and firefighters are still dealing with hotspots, flare-ups and ember transfers,” he said in an update late last night.<\/p>\n

“No houses have caught fire, although initially it was thought seven to eight properties were threatened, and police evacuated 22 homes.”<\/p>\n

\"Fire<\/p>\n

Fire crews were notified of the blaze in Albert Town, W\u0101naka last night. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Crews left the scene just before 11pm. <\/p>\n

Footage and images from the scene showed flames leaping well above the treeline, with the sky glowing a deep orange as the fire ripped through vegetation. <\/p>\n

One resident described embers flying down their street, with residents hosing down gardens nearby.<\/p>\n

McQuillan earlier told RNZ crews were still trying to dampen down the fire and needed to constantly reposition, as their hoses were not long enough to reach each hot spot.<\/p>\n

“We can contain the fire, but we are having to reposition to reach each spot. We are hoping this wind will start to die down soon.”<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters<\/p>\n

Firefighters work to bring a large blaze under control in Albert Town on Saturday evening, with smoke and flames visible. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Police said they were notified at 7.30pm and were at the scene carrying out evacuations and controlling traffic. McQuillan said FENZ was working with police and Civil Defence.<\/p>\n

Queenstown Lakes District Council urged residents to follow the advice of emergency services. “Stay safe everyone,” they said in a statement posted to Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"W\u0101naka residents have described the “scary” moment a large vegetation fire broke out near homes last night, forcing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1080,111,43,139,69,4143],"class_list":["post-577890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577890","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=577890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}