State Highway 12 west of Kaikohe was partly blocked for several hours on Monday when a fully laden logging truck rolled and came to rest in a roadside drain. Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said the accident occurred about 1.40pm on a mild bend neat Taheke. It was not immediately clear what had caused it. The driver was checked at the scene by St John Ambulance but was uninjured. It would have been a different story if she had another person in the truck because the passenger side of the cab was crushed, he said. A salvage truck had to come from Whangārei to remove the wreck while another truck with a crane gathered the logs.
Kaimaumau fire
Firefighters at the scene of Northland's biggest blaze in more than a decade are strengthening containment lines with fire retardant ahead of strong winds forecast to hit the Kaimaumau area on Thursday. Yesterday 69 firefighters were working to control the blaze, including peat fires burning underground, with another 27 people in the incident management team. Winds were light and the fire ground had expanded slightly to 2409ha with a perimeter of 43km.
Lockdown charges
Police say there are no new updates as to whether charges will be laid against the two women embroiled in last year's snap lockdown. The pair crossed the border on October 2 after allegedly falsifying information on a travel exemption application, and both tested positive for Covid-19. As a result of their road trip north the region was placed into alert level 3. A police spokesman said there was nothing new to report since last November when police said they were seeking further legal advice before making a decision about charges.
Checkpoint recruits
The last cohort of police brought into Northland from other districts to help man the fixed checkpoints and roving patrols have returned home. Roughly 67 officers finished their week-long deployment in Tai Tokerau yesterday. They made up the final rotation of additional staff welcomed from Porirua, Masterton, Canterbury, and elsewhere who each spent a week in Northland initially manning the fixed checkpoints before carrying out visibility and reassurance patrols in remote and vulnerable communities throughout the region. A police spokesman said their presence to boost the number of visibility patrols had been very welcome in Tai Tokerau over the busy holiday period.
Fonterra protest
Police moved around 20 protesters opposed to vaccine mandates from their spot outside Fonterra in Maungatūroto. The group gathered near Fonterra's manufacturing site on Monday morning but fears for safety saw them relocated by police as they blocked the view of truck drivers attempting to pull out onto State Highway 12. The protest comes days after similar outcries at Fonterra sites in Canterbury and Southland. Fonterra director NZ Manufacturing Alan Van Der Nagel said a decision was yet to be made about mandatory vaccination for workers. Fonterra carried out an employee consultation that concluded on December 27 and was now analysing the feedback provided. He indicated if the policy was introduced it would be from March 1.
