Fiery stunts big ‘mistake’

The organiser behind the festival in which a flamethrower was used during a total fire ban acknowledges it was ‘‘bloody stupid’’ and has said he made a ‘‘massive mistake’’.

Pete Murdoch organised the Dystopia Festival held last weekend in the Cobb Valley, Upper Takaka.

Footage of a flamethrower and fire dancers at the event sparked a reaction online from people concerned over the use of fire during the struggle to contain a wildfire less than 50 kilometres away.

‘‘We obviously made a massive mistake at Dystopia,’’ Murdoch said.

There were no issues raised by the 350 festivalgoers during the event, but the backlash came once people saw photos of the flamethrower online, he said.

‘‘They don’t like out-oftowners and they certainly don’t like young upstarts like myself coming to town from Wellington with a giant f...ing flamethrower.’’

Murdoch, who has lived in Takaka for three years, said he had received threats from locals.

The flamethrower show, which went for about eight minutes, was held on a gravel area away from trees and other flammable materials on Friday and Saturday night. A four-metre area surrounding the ute was doused with water before the show commenced each evening.

The flamethrower, which ‘‘pointed skywards the entire time’’ had been built by an engineer to look like a giant Gatling gun and was mounted on the roof of an old Hilux.

Murdoch said a friend looked into the legality of being able to use a flamethrower at the event.

‘‘We took every precaution necessary but it was bloody stupid doing it the middle of a total fire ban, I recognise that now.’’

Murdoch said a water pump was used to douse down the site, twice on Thursday and four times on Friday before the event began.

He said four of the crew were trained rural fire-fighters. A 44-gallon drum was on site filled with water, had sacks soaking inside it and there were a number of fire extinguishers and fire blankets on hand.

‘‘We had signage everywhere also saying fire ban, fire ban.’’

Murdoch said on Wednesday that he hadn’t heard from Fire and Emergency NZ or the police, but that he took responsibility for the event.

‘‘If anyone is to be prosecuted or anything like that, I take full responsibility for everything that happened out here. We can only live and learn.’’

Tasman District Council community relations manager Chris Choat said council had been unaware of the Dystopia event and were in the process of following up with its organisers.

On Monday, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said it would be investigating the fire-related activities at Dystopia and would discuss them with event organisers.

No 111 calls, or any reports of injuries or property damage were received in relation to the event.