Pursuit ends at nudist camp
Two people were led away in handcuffs after a police pursuit of a suspected arsonist ended near a nudist camp.
The pair, a man and a woman, were found after their car stopped in a creek bed in farmland behind the Nelson Sun Club naturist camp yesterday afternoon.
Residents of the camp were startled when a helicopter hovered over their boundary, and then six police cars turned up following a short pursuit of a man seen trying to start a fire near the Moutere Highway around 2pm yesterday afternoon.
It is understood contractors working in a forest near the site of last week’s forest fire that threatened homes in the area had alerted police.
The man was initially reported to have been held by forestry contractors, but had made off from the scene in a car.
Nelson Sun Club president Russell, who did not want his last name used, said the first club residents knew about the pursuit was a helicopter hovering near the western boundary of the camp in Sunrise Valley Rd, Upper Moutere.
Six police vehicles, including dog handlers, arrived soon after.
Russell said a silver car could be seen in a creek bed on adjoining farmland. Police led a man and a woman away in handcuffs, he said.
The car had not come through the camp, which is at the end of a dead-end road. Russell said it’s possible the car had been travelling on fire-breaks and farm tracks in the area.
Russell said another fire in the area would have been devastating. The club had been evacuated during the massive Pigeon Valley fire last month, and was on alert last week during a fire near the Moutere Hill summit.
Russell said if it turned out to be arson, ‘‘I can’t tell you what we should do to people who do that sort of thing to be honest.
‘‘Sooner or later someone will die in a fire.’’
Camp host Bronwyn first became aware of the situation when she heard a helicopter hovering overhead.
The next minute, police cars were coming up the road at great speed.
‘‘It’s just gone down really fast. I was watching a movie, and I thought oh, why is a helicopter out here, what are they doing? Are they perverts or what?
‘‘It didn’t take long to go and put clothes on.’’
Fire and Emergency NZ shift controller Mal Barbara said they had been alerted to a small fire on Dovedale Rd by the Richmond fire lookout. The fire was quickly controlled.
Nelson Bays area commander Detective Inspector Paul Borrell said two people were taken into custody without incident and were speaking with police in relation to the fire.
‘‘We would like to thank local contractors who initially spotted the pair and immediately notified police,’’ he said.
‘‘The use of the helicopter enabled realtime information to be passed to police providing the location of the car and persons shortly before 3pm.’’