Fire prosecutions in Northland likely to begin

Smoke from a fire at Pataua South believed to have been lit by children playing with matches. Photo / Supplied

Fire authorities in Northland are seriously considering prosecuting people who light fires despite knowing a fire ban is in place across the region.

Principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said he has been seeking advice from officials at Fire and Emergency New Zealand in Wellington on what action could be taken against offenders.

He said two cases— a rubbish fire in Whangārei lit by a repeat offender and another in the Far North where a person blatantly disregarded a fire ban— were being considered for prosecution.

"Prosecution is one of the tools in our tool box and if people are not willingly complying with the restrictions, then we'll look at prosecution to change behaviours," he said.

Fire officials in Northland prefer to educate rather than prosecute people but the message isn't getting through, given a spate of rubbish and scrub fires recently that needed helicopters to bring under control.

The most recent was at Pataua South on Saturday afternoon when three helicopters were used to bring a scrub fire that burnt two hectares under control.

Taylor said information he received from locals was that the fire may have been started by children playing with matches near the beach but said investigations were ongoing.

The fire spread up a hill and came towards about 5m of houses at the end of Mahanga Rd.

It took the helicopters and crews from Whangārei Heads, Onerahi, Whangārei, and a water tanker from Hikurangi three hours to bring the fire under control.

Whangārei Heads fire chief Paul MacDonald said crews worked in quite a steep area of scrub and felled pine trees in hot conditions.

A team from Forest Protection Service took over abut 7.30pm on Saturday and dampened down hotspots.

In Waipapakauri on Friday, it took three helicopters to battle an out-of-control rubbish fire that burnt five hectares.