A Matakana Island resident has lost their home in a house fire on Thursday.

A long-time resident of the island, Nessie Kuka, said she understood no one was in the resident’s home at the time, but the “whole house” was “lost”.

The fire was one of several keeping Bay of Plenty firefighting crews busy on Thursday and came as parts of the country braced for a weekend of heightened fire risk.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Northern Communication Centre shift manager Paul Radden said the Matakana Island house fire call came in about 2.40pm.

Crews from the mainland travelled to the island by barge to support the local brigade.

Those called included Greerton, Maketū and Ōmokoroa. A Greerton spokesperson said the crew had not been required at the scene in the end.

Radden said the mainland crews returned about 8pm.

The Matakana Island crew returned to the fire scene in the morning to ensure the fire was fully out, and a fire investigator was tasked with determining the cause.

The neighbouring Matakana and Rangiwaea Islands in Tauranga Harbour have a combined population of about 300.

Radden said crews from Greerton and Tauranga City were called to Omanawa in the Western Bay of Plenty about 6pm for a shed fire.

The shed was about 6m by 12m and the fire involved “multiple cars”.

With no reticulated water supply in the area, five fire engines and two water tankers were sent to the scene. Crews were there almost three hours.

About 4pm, firefighters were called to a tractor and vegetation fire in Tikitere, Rotorua.

Crews from Lake Ōkāreka and Rotorua worked for more than two hours to control the fire.

Tauranga and Whakatāne are forecast to hit 30C on Saturday and Sunday, while Rotorua is expected to reach 28C on Saturday and 27C on Sunday.

MetService heat alerts have been issued for Tauranga and Whakatāne.

Fire and Emergency deputy chief executive prevention Nick Pyatt said with high temperatures, wind gusts of up to 30km/h and low humidity, there was a “perfect storm” for wildfire risk.

While the Bay of Plenty was not under the extreme fire risk classification issued for other parts of the country, Fire and Emergency still urged the public to take care.

A spokesperson said this particularly applied to anyone carrying out any spark- or heat-generating activity this weekend. These activities should be postponed in “hot or windy” conditions.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.

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