Spike in fires prompts reminder to be vigilant with controlled burns
Firefighters have responded to a flurry of vegetation fires around Hawke’s Bay, leading to a reminder for people to remain vigilant when burning.
While there is an open fire season in place for most of the region, parts of the Bay remain dry and fires should only be lit with caution.
A 6ha fire in Waiwhare, a rural area west of Napier, got out of control on Thursday night after starting as a legitimate controlled burn.
A huge response was needed to get that blaze under control by Friday morning, including helicopters with monsoon buckets and 11 fire trucks.
No homes were damaged and there were no injuries.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand responded to a call from the property owner again on Saturday morning, after a flare-up, to extinguish a 20x40m fire.
Smaller fires over the weekend which needed to be extinguished included a fire in a pile of leaves about 1pm on Saturday near Hastings Library, a 30x20m grass fire about two hours later on Brookvale Rd in
Havelock North, and a small vegetation fire off Chambers St in Te Awa later that evening.
Fire and Emergency Hawke’s Bay acting district manager Jason Hill said some areas in the region remained dry despite recent rainfall, while others were starting to “green up”.
He said there was an open fire season in place for most of the region.
“Farmers are out burning and people are still cleaning up postcyclone, but we are just asking them to really be vigilant,” he said.
“The biggest thing people need to be vigilant of is wind. You can think a fire is out . . . but you get a little bit of wind and it can quickly flare up.”
He said double-checking a fire was completely extinguished was important, through actions such as checking the following day.
He said the exceptions to the open fire season were the Hawke’s Bay coastal and Tararua east zones, which are restricted and require a permit.
That includes areas such as Cape Kidnappers down the coast to south of Po¯rangahau.
He said people should go online to checkitsalright.nz to see whether they can burn in a given area.