A man in his 50s suffered serious head injuries after falling from scaffolding on a Whangārei building. Police were notified of the incident on Rathbone St, in central Whangārei, on Monday about 2.45pm. The injured man was taken to Whangārei Hospital and WorkSafe confirmed they had been notified. He has since been transferred to Auckland Hospital. ANZ Bank operates out of the bottom floor but does not own the building which is having renovation work being done to the top two floors. The scaffolding is at the rear of the building in the carpark area.
Voting returns
So far just over 12 per cent — or one in eight — of the Far North's eligible voters have had their say in the local government election. As of Monday afternoon 5300 voting papers had been returned out of a total of just over 43,000 eligible voters. At the moment most committed voters appear to be in Whatuwhiwhi with a turnout thus far of 16 per cent followed by 15 per cent for Doubtless Bay. The slowest voters are in North Hokianga with just under 10 per cent of ballots cast so far. Voting documents need to arrive in the mail by October 12 to count, though they can be hand-delivered to council service centres until noon on the last day.
Flax on fire
Ahipara firefighters feared the worst when they were called to a house fire just before midnight on Monday. Neighbours called 111 after seeing smoke billowing from under a house on Tasman Heights at 11.35pm but Ahipara fire chief Dave Ross said when the brigade arrived they found an area of flax and pampas on fire next to the driveway with the wind blowing the smoke under the house. Two people were asleep inside at the time. Firefighters from Ahipara and Kaitaia quickly doused the blaze. An investigator from Fire and Emergency NZ was on his way to the scene yesterday to determine the cause. Ahipara has been hit by about 20 suspicious fires so far this year, as well as four house fires since April.
