Penny Gaylor: Emergency services respond quickly to Queen Elizabeth Park fire

Penny Gaylor.

Weekly column by Kāpiti's Greater Wellington Regional Council representative Penny Gaylor

A couple of weeks ago a fire broke out on the grasses of Queen Elizabeth Park.

It's a reminder of why we say we need to carefully manage our parks in the region and especially as we are progressing from moving from grazing leases to what the next permanent landscape is for this environment.

The quick response by six fire engines, and 30 ground crew, quickly brought under control the grass and gorse fire that had started accidentally.

Greater Wellington parks staff worked with FENZ staff to identify water sources, access points which helped bring the fire under control within an hour of it beginning.

All nearby tracks were checked to ensure no park users were in the vicinity for safety reasons.

I called the schools that I knew had students who use the park's pathways for biking home from school.

An investigation into how the fire began is under way, and this will confirm what the park ranger considers is the likely cause of the fire, and what lessons can be learnt to prevent these situations occurring in the future.

This is a timely reminder that conditions around the region are still dry and care should be taken when in the outdoors.

Any smoke should be reported via the 111 emergency services.

My personal thanks to the collective co-operation of the firefighters and our own staff who all worked together to quickly manage the risks and put out the fire.

GWC has worked with the Paekākākriki Surf Club over the last 7-8 years to ensure their new clubrooms are fit for purpose, safe from sea level rise and fit into the park surrounds.

Paekākāriki Surf Lifeguards celebrated their centenary in 2013, making this iconic club one of the oldest in the country.

It is estimated that the efforts of the club have rescued well over 1000 people from life-threatening situations in the past 100 years on the Kāpiti Coast.

As you'd expect, over the past 50 years the clubhouse has been battered by the coastal environment and is now in a poor state of repair.

So it's time for them to move out of the old building to address major structural degradation, mitigate against coastal erosion, and reconfigure patrol, meeting and storage spaces to improve performance and reflect the growth of the club.

GWRC intends to grant a lease to the Paekākāriki Surf Lifesaving club for a period of 30 years pursuant to Section 59A of the Reserves Act 1977 and Part 3B of the Conservation Act 1987.

The new clubhouse proposal is available in the documents link on the right and we welcome your feedback on the developed plan. This consultation closes at 3pm, Tuesday, April 6.

The consultation is now live — https://haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/surf-club

I'd encourage you to have your say and give your support.

Like our fire services who helped put out the fire at QEP, lifeguards provide an essential public safety service, and they all deserve our appreciation and support.