Six fire trucks battle blaze in partly demolished building in Hastings
Photo:
RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Six fire trucks are battling a blaze in Hastings at an old Watties-owned building that is under demolition.
Fire and Emergency said there were no reports of anyone in the building or being injured, and crews were working to suppress the fire on the corner of Tomoana Road and Richmond Road.
A plastic tank and cladding are on fire - and the blaze covers an area the size of two tennis courts.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
23 minutes ago
- RNZ News
World risks losing more of its wetlands, DOC scientist Hugh Robertson tells UN
Department of Conservation freshwater scientist Dr Hugh Robertson is the lead author of the Global Wetland Outlook 2025 report. Photo: Supplied / DoC An international report, led by a Department of Conservation scientist, warns the world is on track to lose even more of its wetlands - but solutions exist that could help wetlands thrive. Dr Hugh Robertson, a DOC freshwater scientist, was lead author of the Global Wetland Outlook 2025 , and chair of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the International Convention on Wetlands. He presented the report to the United Nations in Nairobi yesterday. "New Zealand has lost 90 percent of our wetlands," Robertson said. "This pattern is reflected internationally - over 400 million hectares of wetlands have vanished since 1970. "And if the loss continues at its current rate, a further fifth of the world's remaining wetlands could be gone by 2050 unless we take action." Wetlands provided food, regulated the global water cycle, removed water pollution, served as a buffer from the effects of sea level rise and storm surges, and stored carbon. In New Zealand, wetlands were home to an abundance of taonga species - kahikatea, native ducks, rare orchids and mudfish, to name a few wetland plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. "Losing a further fifth of wetlands globally will have enormous impact on people, nature and economies, amounting to losses of up to USD$39 trillion ($NZ65 trillion)," Robertson said. However, he said the panel behind the report was at pains to lay out a pathway for conserving wetlands. "The report suggests a combination of private and public financing could address the funding gaps , such as biodiversity credits," Robertson said. "Recognising the essential role of wetlands to store, filter and regulate water flows, and treating wetlands as essential infrastructure will also hope to reverse wetlands loss. "Restoration per hectare costs anything between USD$1000 and $70,000 (about NZ$1600 to $115,000), so conserving wetlands is cheaper than restoring them." Global Wetland Outlook 2025 has been published in the lead-up to the Ramsar Wetlands Convention Conference of Parties (COP 15), taking place in Zimbabwe from 23 July. Ramsar was a global treaty dedicated to promoting international cooperation and actions to protect wetlands. At COP 15, countries would make decisions to address wetland loss and degradation and improve management of wetlands of international importance. New Zealand's latest report on its internationally important wetlands (Ramsar sites), published earlier this year, would be tabled at COP15. The report covered the recent, devastating fires at Awarua-Waituna and Whangamarino wetlands , as well as positive changes through the government's Jobs for Nature programme, DOC's Ngā Awa river restoration programme and partnering with tangata whenua to monitor wetland condition. New Zealand had seven wetland sites listed as internationally significant under the Ramsar Wetland Convention and submitted international reporting updates on their condition every seven years. They included Farewell Spit (Golden Bay), Firth of Thames (Hauraki Gulf), Koputai Peat Dome (Hauraki Plains), Manawatū Estuary (Foxton, Horowhenua), Awarua-Waituna Lagoon (Southland), Wairarapa Moana (Wairarapa) and Whangamarino Wetland (Northern Waikato). Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
Six fire trucks battle blaze in partly demolished building in Hastings
There were no reports of anyone being in the burning building. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Six fire trucks are battling a blaze in Hastings at an old Watties-owned building that is under demolition. Fire and Emergency said there were no reports of anyone in the building or being injured, and crews were working to suppress the fire on the corner of Tomoana Road and Richmond Road. A plastic tank and cladding are on fire - and the blaze covers an area the size of two tennis courts. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Kaikōura considers new rules for cats
Kaikōura District Council will draft a new animal control bylaw with a section for cats. File photo Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon A new bylaw is being proposed to protect Kaikōura's native birds and improve the wellbeing of cats. With the Kaikōura District Council's dog control bylaw due to be reviewed, the council has decided to draft a new animal control bylaw with a section for cats. The decision follows calls from local conservationists to help protect banded dotterels / pohowera, which nests along the Kaikōura coastline. The birds come under threat from predators, including stray and feral cats, during nesting season. Alongside the new bylaw, the council will partner with the SPCA to promote subsidised desexing and microchipping of cats. Council chief executive Will Doughty said the new bylaw will be developed over the next 18 months and will be subject to consultation. "We've looked at what's been done in other councils and we found this is now becoming a lot more mainstream. "There are benefits from a cat health perspective and it's good from a wider environmental perspective, so it goes beyond just the protecting the birds. "But the big thing is in the education." A dotterel in full flight. Photo: Ailsa McGilvary-Howard The council is working with Environment Canterbury and the Department of Conservation to look at restrictions on nesting sites. The dotterel nesting season runs from September to December, with the birds under threat from dogs, vehicles and human activity, as well as cats. Doughty said the subsidised desexing and microchipping programme will receive ratepayer funding from the council's environmental projects fund. Kaikōura couple Ailsa McGilvary-Howard and Ted Howard made an appeal to a council workshop in March to help protect the dotterels. While the dotterel can be found on braided rivers and coastlines in other parts of the South Island, Kaikōura is like "a whirlpool" which sucks birds in because there appears to be plenty of resources, McGilvary-Howard said. The beach areas with the most dotterel nesting sites are at South Bay between the Coastguard and The Caves, and further north between the West End shopping area and the New World supermarket. McGilvary-Howard has been monitoring dotterel nests on the Kaikōura coastline voluntarily for more than a decade and completed a self-funded banded dotterel study in 2016. A banded dotterel mother and chick. Photo: Ailsa McGilvary-Howard Howard monitors the northern section, and said around 150 eggs were laid this season, with around 40 hatching, but just one chick survived. A further four chicks survived at South Bay, but more adult birds were lost to predator attacks. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.