The owners of the south Auckland scrap yard have apologised for the massive fire which caused toxic smoke and schools to close on Wednesday.
It comes after Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) revealed it has now responded to nine reports of fires at Sims Metal - a scrap metal yard in Favona - since November 2017.
District manager Brad Mosby said in a statement four of the fires required firefighting activities, two were scrap metal pile fires in 2018 and 2021, while the remainder were considered minor.
The blaze on Wednesday started just after midnight at Sims Metal on Manu St. The fire in a pile of scrap car parts caused plumes of black smoke to fill the air over the street.
Trains were halted for just over an hour and Civil Defence urged thousands of Aucklanders to stay inside and close doors and windows in the surrounding suburbs of the industrial park in Favona because of toxic smoke.
In a statement, APAC at Sims Metal chief operating officer David Burrows apologised for the blaze and thanked the public for their patience.
"Sims Metal would like to thank the local community for their patience while we worked with FENZ to ensure that fire was extinguished in a safe and efficient manner," Burrows said.
"Once again, we sincerely apologise for the concern, disruption and inconvenience this incident has caused our community neighbours.
"Our after-action investigation will begin immediately and we will also review our protocols to determine the appropriate actions needed to mitigate the possibility of a future recurrence."
Burrows confirmed the blaze was successfully extinguished at 2:20am on Thursday - 26 hours after it started.
Four crews remained at the scene overnight and will be at the scene on Thursday to conduct a final assessment.
FENZ Counties Manukau assistant district commander Phil Larcombe said the cause of the massive fire is still a mystery.
"Lithium-ion batteries are becoming more of a challenge for us. It could've been one of those, it may not, we just don't know and we may never know," Larcombe told Newshub.
Burrows said his team is beginning the clean-up efforts at Sims Metal and James Fletcher Rd has been re-opened to traffic.
"We would like to thank FENZ for their quick and diligent response to this incident. Across our global operation, Sims Metal works collaboratively with local fire departments and fire detection firms to ensure our control measures in fire prevention and methods for response continually improve with new technologies.
"Over the past year, Sims Metal has partnered with fire detection firms to trial state-of-the-art, machine-learning early detection warning systems to control fire risk."
Emergency Management sent out multiple text message alerts on Wednesday to thousands of Aucklanders advising them to close their windows and doors because of the toxic smoke.
The blaze also saw some schools in the area affected on Wednesday, with Kings College, which is less than 2km away from the fire, closed for the day and switched to online learning.
Otahuhu College closed early at 2:30pm. Koru School and Māngere East Primary School remained open but told parents they can do what they feel is safest for their children.
