Fire breaks out by river in Taupō

A fire has broken out on the southern bank of the Waikato River, near the Control Gates Bridge in Taupō on Tuesday afternoon.

Fire crews accessed the fire from Rickit St at about 3.30pm and appeared to have it largely under control by 4pm.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said they were called to a “bush fire” at 3.30pm.

They responded with six fire appliances and were dampening down hot spots by about 4.30pm.

The fire was about 15 metres by 15 metres in size.

Greening Taupō has done extensive native plantings in the area and some of those trees were also lost in the fire.