Police investigate city blaze
Police have been knocking on Nelson residents’ doors as they investigate the cause of the Walters Bluff blaze.
Meanwhile, two men were arrested overnight on Saturday and charged with arson, ‘‘unrelated to the current fires in and around Nelson’’, said Detective Superintendent Peter Read.
The blaze on Friday at Walters Bluff threatened several city properties and took away firefighting resources from the massive Tasman district forest fire.
Read confirmed yesterday that police were investigating the Nelson fire. ‘‘We’re doing a door-todoor today up in that area.’’
In particular, police want to identify and speak with three males seen on a bench on the Centre of New Zealand track near Iwa Rd around 1.30pm on Friday. They are described as Caucasian and aged between 16 and 20. Two were possibly wearing baseball caps, and one had fair hair.
Police are also investigating another fire that took hold last Wednesday at Rabbit Island.
Read outlined the arrest overnight on Saturday of two local men ‘‘on separate and unrelated arson offences’’.
A 27-year-old man faces three charges of arson relating to fires in rubbish skips around the Nelson CBD from December 2018 to January 2019.
The other man, 24, was being charged with two counts of arson, relating to setting fire to a rubbish skip behind a Nelson restaurant and setting fire to a residential Nelson flat, as well as breaking into several cars, Read said.
‘‘As far as local police are aware, the two men are unknown to each other and acted independently.’’
The pair are due to appear in the Nelson District Court this week.
Read was blunt when asked what message he would give to anyone carrying out such activity. ‘‘Don’t. Incredibly stupid. It’s the last thing we need.’’
Police would also look at prosecuting anyone operating a drone illegally, he said.
A civilian was seen operating a drone from outside the cordoned area during an overnight patrol of Wakefield on Saturday. Police spoke to the drone operator, who stopped immediately.
‘‘We’re taking . . . no further action in respect of that incident,’’ Read said.
Concern for public safety was also sparked by rumours that some people were accessing rural properties in the evacuation zone, he said.
‘‘They’re not going through the cordons; they’re going across farmland. We want farmers and residents to work with us, not against us. We’d ask them to use the controlled visits back into properties.’’
Police and Defence Force personnel visited 170 properties in the Wai-Iti area on Saturday night and told the residents to prepare to evacuate.