Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Heat needs to go on firebugs

By Andrew Austin
Editor·Hawkes Bay Today·
12 Apr, 2015 09:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An arsonist has been hitting Havelock North.

An arsonist has been hitting Havelock North.

Here's hoping that the person or persons behind the spate of arsons in the Hastings district will be caught soon.

It takes a certain mentality to wilfully go around and damage or destroy someone else's property without taking into account the consequences.

In the latest incident, a trailer-mounted portable toilet was set alight in a St Georges Rd orchard in Parkvale on Sunday morning, while earlier a pile of bark had been set alight in a playground in nearby Parkvale School.

Read more here: Arsons put residents on alert

This follows three vehicles, two vacant houses, a school classroom and Splash Planet's 50-year-old pirate ship being set alight since February 28.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, the worst was a car being set alight after a home invasion on March 13. A family was asleep in their Jellicoe St home when a young man walked through the house, flicking a cigarette lighter at about 4.30am. When challenged he left, but the family car was set alight.

Whether or not the arsons are the work of the same group of people, they need to stop before someone dies in a fire or major damage is done. What the people setting the fires don't realise is that the penalties for manslaughter or total destruction of property are far more severe than for simply setting a small fire.

They don't realise that a small fire can become a large fire and the police and Fire Service do not want to wait around for that to happen. They want to catch whoever is responsible now.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Police are warning that anyone seen loitering in Parkvale and Mayfair streets in the early hours of the morning will be treated as suspicious.

The chances of the culprits being caught sooner rather than later are strong. Someone, somewhere, knows who they are and the sooner they tell the authorities, the better for us all.

Discover more

Editorial: Answers needed on fence cost

08 Apr 09:00 PM

Editorial: Racism and handguns lethal mix

09 Apr 09:00 PM

Editorial: Some drivers are drips in wet weather

10 Apr 10:00 PM

Arsons put residents on alert

12 Apr 09:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM

One person was taken into custody at the scene.

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM
Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

19 Jun 08:11 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP