Bream Bay popularity comes with downside

GREAT ESCAPE: More people are flocking to the Bream Bay area for summer. PHOTO/FILE

The increasing popularity of Bream Bay over summer means tragedies like the quadruple road fatality and Uretiti Beach Christmas Day drowning will occur, Craig Brown says.

Since December 23 in the Bream Bay area there had been a quadruple fatality; a man dying on Ruakaka Beach; the paddle crab death and associated rescues and several other car accidents.

Mr Brown, a lifelong Bream Bay resident, said with more people flocking to the Bream Bay area for summer - including Waipu, Waipu Cove, Langs Beach, Ruakaka and Uretiti - the risks of accidents and incidents increased.

"Waipu Cove and Ruakaka (campgrounds) have always been popular, but with the opening up of DoC's Uretiti Campground, it's becoming even more popular there," he said.

"(Bream Bay) is a growing area and the more people you have going to a spot like that the more the risk increases of something like this happening."

He said the quadruple fatality on December 23 was an enormous tragedy for the families involved, but also hard on the emergency service staff that attended.

"Bream Bay is getting a lot more people, but with that comes more risks.

Most of the emergency services staff that attend these things are locals and mainly volunteers - firefighters, St John Ambulance staff and life guards - and it puts a very personal touch on things when you know the people who are going to these terrible events," MR Brown said.

Waipu Chief Fire Officer Trevor Vaile said his brigade had been busy since before Christmas with callouts to road crashes and to beach incidents involving visitors to the area.

"We've had a very busy time since just before Christmas, with a number of callouts," Mr Vaile said.

The busy period started for the Waipu brigade, and nearby Ruakaka brigade, on December 23, when they were called to the horror smash on State Highway One at Uretiti that claimed the life of four people - Aucklanders of Asian descent.

The accident kept firefighters police and ambulance staff busy for several hours as the tragic scene was examined and cleaned up.