News Story
Last night saw Onehunga feature twice in the space of two hours; a significant downpour overwhelmed storm-drainage on Onehunga Harbour road, and the Fire Service was called to assist with a potentially dangerous situation: A flooded roadway was beginning to threaten a power transformer, and vehicles driving through the waters were causing water to get dangerously close to high-energy equipment. Quickly the Operational Support Unit was responded to manage the traffic, closing the bottom of Onehunga Mall to inbound traffic and allowing traffic exiting the motorway to pass in a slow and steady fashion, into this major industrial area.
Just as members were finishing up, multiple calls were received to a factory fire just around the corner. Members who had been preparing to head home, instead were deployed directly to the corner of Neilsen St and Alfred St and arrived to find a large factory well ablaze. The fire reached third-alarm level, and with assistance from members drawn from across Auckland, we provided assistance with traffic control, waterways equipment, command unit duties and served refreshments from the Canteen. Up to 16 NZFS appliances attended the blaze. Some video of the incident can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Kh2v6BlB4; between the two calls, some of our members were out from 9pm until nearly 4am.
This afternoon yet another long duration job, this one a gas main rupture on the Great South Road in Manurewa, a major throughfare. The initial turnout was shortly after 4pm, just as rush hour was kicking off; it was nearly 9pm by the time the brigade left the incident and local residents heading home from working day, could get access to their properties.
