Blaze forces evacuation

Three blazes occupied firefighting resources in the Far North on Saturday.

A fire that threatened a home and sleepout and kept firefighters occupied for more than two hours, was one of three blazes that occupied firefighting resources in the Far North on Saturday.

Kaitaia firefighter and Northland Fire Service volunteer support officer Colin Kitchen said the Kaitaia brigade was called out about 1.10pm on Saturday to a fire in Paparore Rd that was believed to have started in scrub near a house.

Mr Kitchen said the fire spread over a wide area and at one stage threatened the house and a nearby sleepout/shed. He said the occupants evacuated the property and managed to get much of the contents of the sleepout out.

Two appliances from Kaitaia were supported by an engine from the Pukenui Rural Fire brigade while a helicopter was also brought in to fight the flames, which took about two hours to contain.

The cause of the blaze was still being investigated at edition time yesterday.

The Kawakawa fire brigade meanwhile spent about 30 minutes bringing a small vegetation fire under control on Paihia Rd about 2.45pm, but the fire did not cause too many problems, Mr Kitchen said.

Just after 7pm on Saturday the Kaeo fire party was called out to a fire in a pump house on Dip Rd, Kaeo. The brigade was at the call-out for over an hour, but no further details were available. There were several other minor fire call-outs across Northland over the weekend

Last week Far North fire authorities warned that from Saturday they would dispatch a helicopter at the first sign of smoke anywhere in the Far North - and they'll be sending the bill to whoever struck the match. If anybody is found to have started Saturday's fires they will be hit with a minimum $800 chopper call-out charge.

The Northern Rural Fire Authority, which is in charge of the fire-prone Far North, is still holding off from imposing a total fire ban, but Principal Rural Fire Officer Myles Taylor said the danger was approaching a "tipping point".

He was keeping his options open in case rain arrived in the next two weeks, but in the meantime no new fire permits would be issued. Anyone who already held a permit had been informed that as of Saturday every fire would be treated as non-permitted.

A restricted fire season, which means a permit is required for any fire other than barbecues or hangi, is in force in the whole of Northland.