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 got in, released the handbrake and pushed it clear. The police would like his name.
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. By the time they got there the burning car was already off the forecourt, 1News reported.
CCTV showed how. Sergeant Mark Fleming of Counties Manukau Highway Patrol said the footage shows 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.
Nobody knows who the man is. The police want to find him so they can thank him, and have asked anyone who recognises him to call 105 and quote file number 261008/1007.
“Not everyone is able to jump into action in a dangerous situation,” Fleming said, “and this man deserves to be acknowledged for his courageous quick-thinking.”
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