Auckland police want to thank the man who pushed a burning car away from a petrol pump
Just after midday on Thursday, an empty car caught fire beside a pump at a petrol station on Mill Road in south Auckland. A man walked up, got in, released the handbrake and pushed it clear while others fought the fire. Nobody knows who he is, and the police would like to thank him.
10 October 2026
Image: CCTV footage released by New Zealand Police, via 1News
Emergency services were called to the petrol station on Mill Road at about ten past twelve on Thursday, 1News reported. By the time they arrived, the burning car had already been moved off the forecourt.
CCTV footage showed how. Sergeant Mark Fleming of Counties Manukau Highway Patrol said the footage showed the empty car “well enveloped in smoke and flames when an unknown man approaches it.”
The man very calmly enters the vehicle, releases the handbrake and pushes the vehicle away from the pump while others assist with the fire.Sergeant Mark Fleming, New Zealand Police
“His brave actions prevented a much more serious situation from eventuating,” Fleming said, and the outcome would have been worse without his quick response.
Who is he?
Nobody has said. Police want to contact him to thank him and have asked anyone who knows who he is to call 105 and quote file number 261008/1007.
“Not everyone is able to jump into action in a dangerous situation, and this man deserves to be acknowledged for his courageous quick-thinking,” Fleming said.
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