No plans to make fire starters pay firefighting bills — but fines of $300k possible

A fire at Paihia on March 1 threatened 10 houses and forced half a dozen to be evacuated. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The Government has no plans to bring back a law forcing people who light illegal fires to pay the full costs of putting out their blazes.

A spate of serious fires across Northland in recent weeks — many of then started by illegal rubbish fires — has prompted questions about the new law's effectiveness as a deterrent.

However, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin said Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) still had significant deterrent powers under the new law.

"I don't think it's necessary for Fire and Emergency to recover firefighting costs. This mechanism was abandoned when changes were made to the legislation three years ago as it was seen to be outdated,'' she said.

"Under the new Act, Fire and Emergency can serve an infringement notice or prosecute people on a case-by-case basis. This is a more robust and up-to-date regulatory regime than pursuing costs through the courts.

"What we need is for people, in the North and elsewhere, to be aware of what they're doing and certainly not to light fires when there are bans or high risk."

The old Rural Fire Authority, which was merged with the Fire Service to create FENZ, was able to make people pay fire suppression costs which could run into tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The new law, however, does allow FENZ to deter lower level offences such as failing to carry and produce a fire permit when required, or unknowingly allowing a fire to get out of control and spread.

For serious offences, such as knowingly or recklessly lighting a fire in open air during a total fire ban, offenders can be jailed for up to two years or fined of up to $300,000.

No one in Northland has been fined so far this fire season, but FENZ says it is considering action against a few offenders.

FENZ Auckland-Northland manager Ron Devlin said the organisation's focus was on education but it would issue infringement notices to proven repeat offenders.

Serious fires in recent weeks include a blaze at Paihia which threatened 10 homes and a 5ha fire at Waipapakauri started by an illegal rubbish fire.

The Paihia blaze is still under investigation but is thought to have been started by a campfire or arson.

All of Northland remains under a total fire ban.