Late-night battle to beat bushfire

Flames light up the sky as the fire, on the eastern side of Titahi Bay, burns its way towards the Porirua foreshore. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Firefighters were last night expecting to be battling flames into the early hours of this morning at a bushfire in the Wellington suburb of Titahi Bay.

Fourteen fire crews were called out yesterday afternoon to a large area of bush near the Titahi Bay golf course, where a blaze had quickly spread over 20ha.

Emergency services started trying to extinguish the flames about 4.30pm as an enormous plume of smoke towered over the Titahi Bay and Porirua areas.

Fire Service spokesman Murray Dunbar said last night that it was expected that crews would be fighting the blaze until the early hours of this morning.

"The wind has been fanning it, so hasn't been easy."

Mr Dunbar said up to 150 people from Gloaming Hill - a road leading up to the area where the fire started - were evacuated from their homes.

Earlier reports that more than 450 people had been evacuated were wrong, he said.

Although there had been no reports of any homes or buildings nearby catching fire, police had taken the Gloaming Hill residents to Titahi Bay's Niblick Hall.

About 9.30 last night, Mr Dunbar told the Herald: "It's still burning. We're going to be there for another four to five hours."

Seven fire trucks, three rural fire crews and four helicopters were at the site helping to douse the flames.

The helicopters were expected to be withdrawn when it became dark.

Mana resident Chris Tiffen said the hill had been "glowing" since around 4.30pm.

"I just looked out the window and thought, 'That cloud's a bit dark.' And then I realised that it was a big cloud of smoke. We've pretty much lost sight of the whole of Porirua."

Mr Tiffen said there were times when it looked as though the blaze was dying out, but then it picked up again.

The hill was still blanketed with thick smoke about five hours after he first noticed the blaze.

"Even now, you can still see flames. Both sides, it's still burning."

It was not known late last night how the fire started.