Fire on Gisborne’s Titirangi ‘deliberately lit’

Firefighters have determined that a fire on Titirangi / Kaiti Hill over the weekend was deliberately lit. Photo / NZ Herald

Firefighters say a fire on Gisborne’s Titirangi/Kaiti Hill, thought to have been deliberately lit, could have had disastrous consequences.

Fire and Emergency NZ received reports of the fire about 7.45pm on Friday.

“We were alerted initially by people walking on the hill as part of the Mount Everest Challenge,” a senior firefighter said.

“They saw a fire starting in vegetation about 200 metres from the summit.”

Firefighters arrived in time to stop the fire from spreading.

“It had been deliberately lit,” he said.

“We were very lucky it was not windy, like it had been, otherwise the consequences could have been disastrous.”

As it was, the fire covered an area of about 10 square metres.

“It was also lucky we were alerted early and were able to get there early to put it out.”

The firefighters were there for about an hour to ensure the fire was fully extinguished.

On Saturday afternoon, Fire and Emergency NZ sent a crew to a house in Collins St, Te Hapara, where food had overcooked on the stove.

The call came in about 2.15pm that day.

Firefighters removed the overheated pot and its contents outside and ventilated the house.

They reported the incident caused no damage.