Restricted fire season as region ‘rapidly dries out’
Hawke’s Bay faces high fire risk, measures enforced
All of Hawke’s Bay, including Central Hawke’s Bay, is now in a restricted fire season. Temperatures hit 30C in parts of the region on Monday, and Fire and Emergency NZ is now imposing restrictions and bans on the “rapidly drying” region.
Central Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa, Mā hia Peninsula, Heretaunga-Ahuriri, Hawke’s Bay Coast, Pahīatua, Eketāhuna, West, South, and Central Tararua are all in a restricted fire season.
During this period, people intending to light an outdoor fire must obtain approval through a fire permit issued by Fenz.
East Tararua faces an “extremely high fire risk” and is now in a prohibited fire season.
“The areas going to a restricted fire season are drying out rapidly with the warm, dry weather, and this means vegetation fires will start more easily, spread more rapidly and be more difficult to control,” Fenz Hawke’s Bay community risk manager Nigel Hall said.
“There are also challenges in controlling vegetation fires due to water sources like creeks now running underground, and farm dams affected by Cyclone Gabrielle running low on water.”
Hall says there is no rain forecast
for the next 10 days.
He emphasises the need for collaboration with landowners by issuing permits to manage land management fires safely.
“Given the influx of visitors and holidaymakers in coastal areas with a high fire risk, we urge people to assess the necessity of lighting fires.”.
On Monday, according to the Fenz fire indices map, Pōrangahau and
most of the Tararua district were at “extreme” fire risk (scrub, forest and grass), and parts of Central Hawke’s Bay and Crownthorpe were at high risk.
Four of Central Hawke’s Bay’s volunteer fire brigades — Waipukurau, Waipawa, Tamatea and Ō tāne — were called to a large shed fire in Kyle Rd, Waipukurau, on Monday. A Fenz spokesperson said the fire was brought under control, and no one was injured.
MetService meteorologist Clare O’Connor said El Nino’s unusual weather patterns could continue to show some variation, and fire danger conditions would remain volatile.
“The dry conditions and warm temperatures we have been seeing about eastern regions tie directly into the stronger west-to-northwesterly winds which have been coming and going this summer,” she said.
“Regular southerly wind changes have offered respite to the temperatures, but the associated precipitation has not been enough to reverse the drying effect — so, despite the winds easing, the fire danger remains a concern. With El Nino, we do get stronger and more-frequent winds from the west in summer, which is where the fluctuation comes in.”
While the nearby Tararua district had both a wind watch and increased fire risk in force on Monday, O’Connor said the gusts weren’t likely to be as strong for wider Hawke’s Bay throughout the week.
She said the wind wouldn’t be as strong as they were in Canterbury, where a fire continues to rage in the Port Hills in Canterbury.
“Your wind will be slightly more moderate.”