Large fire in South Auckland prompts toxic smoke warning

Fire and Emergency says it has responded to eight reports of fires at the scrap metal yard in South Auckland where a fire is now causing toxic smoke since November 2017 - but that does not include today's.

In a statement, Fire and Emergency district manager Brad Mosby said four of them required firefighting activities, two were scrap metal pile fires in 2018 and 2021, while the remainder were considered minor.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Fire and Emergency said it was still working hard to extinguish the fire and expected to extinguish and overhaul the remaining scrap metal pile overnight.

Fire and Emergency incident controller Phil Larcombe said there was still a smoke plume, although it was noticeably less.

Properties and businesses in the Ōtāhuhu area would be most affected, he said.

The fire has caused toxic smoke, and Auckland train services were suspended after a control centre was evacuated.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said crews were called out just after midnight to the blaze in a pile of scrap metal at Sims Metal, covering 70 square metres at a yard on James Fletcher Drive.

Up to 30 trucks and support vehicles were at the scene in Favona throughout Wednesday morning.

The fire was contained to the scrap metal pile but would be burning for some time, FENZ said.

Eight appliances remained on site, FENZ incident controller Phil Larcome, told Midday Report, three of which were aerial appliances.

"That's the best way to deliver the water onto this sort of fire, from an altitude."

He said fire-fighters had made "good headway" in the past hour but efforts to put the blaze out would continue throughout the afternoon and potentially overnight.

"It will take a fair bit of effort from ourselves and the management onsite to full extinguish."

He said the nature of the material burning at the site meant it was a difficult fire to fight.

"There's lot of machinery involved ... for us to get water into the location of deep-seated fire presents many challenges."

Scrap metal company 'deeply sorry' for inconvenience

In a statement, Sims Metal chief operating officer APAC, David Burrows, said the fire at its facility had taken hold in a "pile of post-consumer material that was waiting to be processed".

"Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was contacted and responded quickly to our location."

Burrows said his team was working alongside FENZ to reduce the size of the pile and expose the material.

He said that, due to the size of the pile, the company expected it would take some time to fully extinguish the fire.

"Our practice is to never speculate on the cause of a fire, but we will conduct a review of the incident and take appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence, including further review and assessment of inbound material to identify potentially harmful components."

Burrows said the health and welfare of the company's community, neighbours and employees was of paramount importance to it.

"We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience that this incident has caused."

Commuters hit with transport disruptions

Trains were halted when the KiwiRail control centre was evacuated as a precaution because of the fire.

Operation of the lines had now been taken over by Wellington staff, KiwiRail said, and most services had resumed.

The company said teams would be working to return train operation to normal before this afternoon's peak hours.

However, as at 11am, Southern Line trains running between Britomart and Penrose, and Puhinui and Papakura were on a reduced schedule, while Onehunga and Eastern Line services were not operating, Auckland Transport said.

The Western Line was also experiencing cancellations.

Scheduled buses were running and would accept paper tickets, AT said.

An emergency message alert was issued to the neighbourhoods south of the fire at 6am residents to stay away from the smoke and keep doors and windows closed.

The alert covered Māngere, Ōtāhuhu, East Tāmaki, Papatoetoe, Manukau, Flat Bush, Manurewa and through to Takanini, Auckland Emergency Management said.

A shift in the wind mid-morning meant smoke was moving north to include the suburbs of Greenlane, Ellerslie, Mt Wellington and Penrose, while still affecting South Auckland, FENZ said.

But Larcombe said the wind was expected to change direction again later this afternoon, bringing the smoke plume back towards Ōtāhuhu township.

He advised people in the area to limit their exposure to the smoke as much as possible by shutting their windows and turning off air conditioning systems that might be drawing air into their homes and businesses.

"All smoke is toxic ... Keep away from the smoke if you can."

People were advised to contact their health provider if they were feeling affected by the smoke.

In Tōtara Heights, almost 15km from the blaze, resident Deven Jensen said the smell of burning plastic from the fire was detectable.

Middlemore Hospital shut down its ventilation system after the warnings of toxic fumes.

A Te Whatu Ora spokesperson said services were running as normal and no evacuations were needed. The hospital's isolation rooms had not been affected.

The spokesperson said they were in contact with FENZ and Civil Defence and would turn the ventilation systems back on when it was safe to do so.

Ōtāhuhu College would finish early, and breaks were being shortened.

Scrap metal yard could face disciplinary action

The scrap metal yard where the fire is burning could face disciplinary action if is found it did not comply with environmental regulations.

Auckland Council confirmed to RNZ there had been two previous fires at the site, in 2017 and 2018.

Auckland Council's general manager of licensing and regulatory compliance Mervyn Chetty told Midday Report he was particularly concerned because it was not the first time Sims Metal had had a fire.

"It is of concern and FENZ is leading the way in terms of responding to the incident and we're taking direction and providing support in terms of our compliance response and environmental health teams."

He said industrial sites required industrial and trade activities consents for the use of the land and the discharge of contaminants.

Scrap metal yards would typically require documentation such as an management plan that set out procedures to avoid or mitigate any environmental risk, he added.

"We'll work with FENZ and other agencies to figure out the cause [of the fire] and whether there's any potential for any action to be taken against the company. At this point it's just too early to make that call."

Chetty said Auckland Council teams were on site to assess the environmental impact of the fire, which is near a wetland.