Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland

Auckland Council's co-governance and co-management representative says they have been told by fire crews the blaze on Māngere mountain at the weekend was intentionally lit.

Te Waka Tai-ranga Whenua kaiwhakahaere Joe Hammon told RNZ they spoke with Fire and Emergency on Sunday.

"They explained it to be intentionally lit from the top centre of the crater," he said.

"The fire has then spread evenly downwards towards the bottom of the crater, both left and right of the crater, and as you can see in the photos in media, the whole wall of the crater right down to the bottom has been burnt to charcoal."