A firebug appears to be at work in the sand dunes along Papamoa Beach Rd this month, raising concerns for the beachside habitat and what the arsonist may turn to next.
Mount Maunganui station officer Roger Pickett has attended two of the fires and seen the devastating effects on the dune environment and the wildlife that lives there.
The latest occurred last night, which he didn't attend, when someone allegedly set fire to a lounge chair in the sand dunes between Evans Rd and Hartford Ave.
Luckily, Mount Maunganui firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze before the dunes caught fire.
Previously, Mr Pickett has attended a fire at Harrison's Cut off Papamoa Beach Rd where it appeared paper had been used to fuel the blaze.
He has also been to one near the end of Hartford Ave, where a device made from a plastic bottle was found at the scene.
He said four of the fires were towards the back of the dunes and lit within about 500m of each other.
Mr Pickett said it would be pure speculation to say the same person was responsible for the four fires, but he suspected it was the case.
He also said there was potential for lighting fires in the sand dunes to escalate to more serious offending. "It's a bit like a petty thief, they start off flogging a chocolate bar out of a dairy and five years down the track they're robbing a post office," he said.
The latest fire could have been an older person, as Mr Pickett said it was unlikely children could lift an armchair with ease.
Within the past two weeks, Mr Pickett said he had also extinguished a fire at the beach on Marine Parade, Mount Maunganui which had obviously been deliberately lit. In this case a plastic petrol container was found discarded at the scene.
However, he did not believe the same culprit was responsible as the fire was lit in a greener area, possibly just for the effect.
Mr Pickett has worked for the Mount Maunganui Fire Brigade for the past two years and said he had not seen deliberately lit fires like this in the dunes before.
The Papamoa community needed to be vigilant about reporting suspicious behaviour in the sand dunes to police, before a fifth fire was lit.
People also need to report dune fires, even if they put them out themselves, in order to provide police with a full picture of the problem.
5 suspicious fires in three weeks
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