‘Mate you’re on fire!’: Ōtāhuhu local battles rubbish truck blaze with garden hose

An Ōtāhuhu local armed with a garden hose leapt into action this morning as a rubbish truck drove past his home on fire.

Daniel Smith, “born and raised” in the South Auckland suburb, was having his morning coffee with his mum out on his deck when an Auckland Council rubbish truck drove past his home.

“I saw the truck coming round, thought ‘oh that’s a bit of condensation’ but then I saw a bit of flames coming out, and just started yelling to the driver ‘hey mate you’re on fire!’”

The large pile of rubbish dumped by the truck. Photo / Daniel Smith

Smith told the Herald his mum grabbed the garden hose, and the next minute he was out on the street, battling the flames as best he could.

“I was out there in my dressing gown and everything!”.

He said the hose didn’t have much pressure behind it, but it was better than nothing.

“Definitely a different sort of morning!”

The truck driver immediately dumped the load of rubbish on to the street and jumped out to assist Smith in extinguishing the flames using a fire extinguisher.

Shortly afterwards, Fire and Emergency services turned up and put the fire out.

FENZ shift manager Lauren Sika confirmed they had attended the fire shortly before 7am, and extinguished it by 7.25am.

A spokesperson for Auckland Council said the fire had likely been started by a lithium-ion battery which was incorrectly disposed of - “potentially in a vape pen”.

The below photo is the result of a recycling truck load catching fire this morning due to something it picked up. The cause is still being investigated.
A good reminder to only put the right things into your recycling to help keep everyone safe.#recycling #fire
[1/2] pic.twitter.com/OI68wvw4AY

— Auckland Council (@AklCouncil) August 21, 2023

“The driver is okay and unharmed. Our drivers are well-trained to deal with emergencies of this kind. When alerted to the fire, often when they see smoke in the hopper, they then have to find a safe place to tip the rubbish out and call Fire and Emergency to extinguish the fire.”

A contractor had been sent out to clear the dumped-out rubbish from the street.