Teenagers spotted fleeing scene of scrub blaze

Teenagers were spotted letting off fireworks then fleeing the scene as a scrub fire broke out near Waldronville yesterday afternoon, a witness says.

Five fire appliances were called to the blaze on a reserve near the Kaikorai estuary after it had been reported by passing motorists just after 3pm.

A resident, who regularly walks in the area, said he watched ''three young guys down on the beach let off fireworks'', before they walk into the scrub-covered headland.

''They disappeared and then two of them walked out and the other ran like hell,'' he said.

The three young men then got into a white boy-racer type vehicle and fled the scene, and then ''I saw the flames''.

The area, which is covered in scrub and lupins, went up ''very fast''.

A Fire Service spokesman said the fire burnt through about half a hectare of reserve land between the gun club and the estuary. It came within several metres of a pile of tyres near the gun club, he said.

Rural Fire Service firefighters were at the scene last night dampening down the area.

A scene examination is expected to be made this morning.

hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz