Tauranga City Council has reviewed its outdoor fire safely bylaw in partnership with the New Zealand Fire service to provide additional safety restrictions especially in times of extreme fire risk.
The council has had the ability since 2010 to declare a total fire ban when the city is at risk to stop the spread of fires, similar to the rural fire service.
In a statement, Mayor Stuart Crosby said the council wanted to keep its community safe and had extended its outdoor fire bylaw to include a notification system to alert key authorities to potential fire risks.
"This was the initial reason why the bylaw was developed, as the rural fire service is not able to issue an urban fire ban."
In a total fire ban, barbecues and traditional cooking fires were allowed on private and public land, as long as the barbecue was supervised, there was water supply nearby to put it out and it did not cause a nuisance.
This exception was in response to the fact that summer was the time of year BBQs were most popular, but it was also often when there was extreme risk of fire.
The exception for traditional cooking fires was something that has been in place since the bylaw was first adopted in 2010. This was not reviewed this time round as the fires tended to be well supervised.
Chinese flying lanterns and the lighting of fireworks and flares during a declared urban fire ban were not allowed for safety reasons - flying lanterns and flares were highly dangerous during extreme fire risk.
Under the old bylaw, outside of a fire ban, people needed to ask permission from the council when they wanted to have a fire in a public place.
There had never been a fee associated with gaining this permission, and the council did not intended to charge one in the future.
The new bylaw just takes this one step further and adds some extra precautions, including gaining approval for open fires on private property after dark, unless the fire is contained in a receptacle, like a drum, or it is a barbecue or traditional cooking fire like a hangi.
The purpose of this was to alert the council and the NZ Fire Service of outdoor fire activity so they were prepared to respond if the fire spread.
The bylaw was not intended to cover minor flames like lighting of birthday candles or cigarettes.
The bylaw has gone through a consultation process and has been supported by the NZ Fire Service. Many submitters were actually looking for the council to be more restrictive, particularly around fireworks.
"We believe that the new bylaw is a good balance between protecting peoples safety and minimising risk, without being too much of the 'fun police', particularly with social things that people value like fireworks and barbecues," Mr Crosby said.