Five remote Northern Hawke’s Bay fires suspected deliberately lit

Police are appealing for information from the public after five scrub and bush fires in the last three weeks in Wairoa and Mohaka in Northern Hawke’s Bay.

A fire off Mohaka Township Rd in Northern Hawke's Bay last week. Police are investigating several bush and scrub fires in Northern Hawke's Bay as possible arson. Photo / Supplied

The appeal has been made as emergency services continue trying to extinguish a fire police believe was deliberately lit off Ngamotu Rd, Wairoa, some time on Tuesday night.

They also come at a time of early-summer dry in much of Hawke’s Bay after four to five months of well below average rainfall.

A second fire began on remote McIvor Rd, south of the Mohaka River mouth, on Wednesday morning and its cause is being investigated.

In the last three weeks, firefighters from as far afield as Gisborne and Napier have been called to help the Wairoa Voluntary Fire Brigade, and rural brigades and firefighters were called to two fires on a block about 1km west of the former Mohaka Hotel site on Mohaka Township Rd, off State Highway 2, west of Raupunga.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Moorhouse, Eastern Police District Tairāwhiti area investigations manager, said investigators are working hard.

“Fires can have a significant impact on our communities and we have been working alongside Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) in the immediate response and to determine what occurred,” he said.

Police and Fenz staff were meeting on Thursday to build a joint strategy to prevent further harm and establish a joint response, with particular concern about the risk posed to life and property in what is “already looking like a dry spell for the region”.

New Fenz Hawke’s Bay District manager Glen Varcoe said emergency responders are concerned about the fires and the impact on the Wairoa community.

“Having fires in the community can cause a lot of anxiety, especially as our investigators have determined most of these fires to be suspicious,” he said.

“These fires have also taken up a lot of time and resources for our people,” Varcoe said.

“We had five different brigades and two helicopters fighting the fire that started on Tuesday night, with three of those brigades also having to attend the fire that started on Wednesday morning.

“We want whoever is responsible to be caught,” he said, urging that anyone with any information should contact police.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.