Residents adjust to fire risk and closures

Homeowners at the base of the tinder-dry Wither Hills have ‘‘learned to live’’ with the fire risk each summer, as the upper tracks of the farm park are closed to the public.

Taylor Pass Rd resident Ian Mitchell said he was happy the tracks were closed on Monday, but was still worried by the number of gum and pine trees nearby.

He was more concerned about the tress than the grass between his house and the trees.

‘‘Frankly, I’d like something else a little greener, that’s not conducive of fire,’’ he said.

But Mitchell had full faith in Fire and Emergency should any fires break out.

Fire and Emergency NZ Marlborough principal rural fire officer John Foley said the closure of the upper tracks was for the safety of the public, given there were no direct escape routes on the hills.

‘‘The grass that got wet in the rain over the weekend, probably by the end of today it would be ready to burn if we had an ignition,’’ Foley said.

‘‘Council, as the landowners, have decided to close those tracks for the safety of the public.

‘‘Hopefully people will follow those instructions and don’t decide to go up there, because obviously when people get up there and if there is a fire, we’re forced to try and rescue people and then try and fight the fire.’’

Tracks on the lower boundary, including the stockyard trail, the rifle range track, the bottom of the farm track and the mapp track, were still open.

Taylor Pass Rd resident Graham Jones said homeowners had ‘‘learnt to live’’ with the fire risk.

‘‘The bottom bit of the hills ... there have been times where we’ve been concerned that the grass has not been kept low,’’ Jones said.

‘‘But life’s full of risks and sometimes you’ve just got to balance out the greater good and, for me, you’ve got access to pretty cool biking and walking tracks.

‘‘It’s just as easy to stick to the roads and the bottom tracks.’’

Fellow neighbour Ruth Thompson, who had lived in the area for nine years, said the fire risk and bans on the walking tracks was something she had learned to live with.

‘‘The kids are in and out of there all the time, they’re using the mountain bike track,’’ Thompson said.

The Drysdale family, who had just moved to Marlborough, said they knew about the ban as their neighbour had received an alert on their mobile.

They had come to the Wither Hills to see what tracks remained opened.

Foley said a couple of fires recently were the result of people not being careful.

‘‘The district is very, very dry. We’ve got this far through the season, it would be good to be able to get right through without any significant fire.’’