Fire crews stretched by half-hour of calls

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GISBORNE firefighters were flat out on Saturday night when they received four callouts in the space of just over half an hour that included a road accident and a grass fire.

The accident call in 6.02pm involved an SUV that left State Highway 35 and went up a bank near the Panikau Road intersection.

“We had to assist a woman out of the vehicle and she was taken to hospital for a check-up,” a senior firefighter said.

“A second woman in the vehicle was OK.”

Firefighters were then called to assist St John ambulance with a medical call, and at 6.27pm a fire crew was called to check out a possible grass fire in the Stanley Road/Innes Street area.

“There was no fire found.”

The fourth call came in at 6.38pm and involved an area of vegetation on fire on the bank of the Taruheru River, on the Oak Street side near the Stanley Road footbridge.

“The Patutahi volunteers were called in as back-up for the city crews and they assisted at that fire,” the senior firefighter said.

“It covered an area about 10 by 20 metres, and two crews were there for about an hour putting it out.

“The cause appears to have been suspicious.”