Northland news in brief: Pohe Island Playground to be closed for maintenance, police station door fire

Te Miro students reading a George the Farmer book that was part of a prize to 100 primary schools across New Zealand.

Police station fire

Police are investigating how the front door of Kaikohe Police Station came to be damaged by fire this week. The fire started just after 3am on Thursday, September 12. Relieving Far North Area Commander Inspector Justin Rogers said the fire didn’t cause any injuries or wider damage and the station continued its normal operations. Anyone with information about the incident can update police online or call 105. Please use the reference number 240912/1072. Information could also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Park Maintenace

Northland Park Care will be maintaining Pohe Island Playground starting on Monday, September 16. They will close small areas of the playground at a time to minimise impact and intend to work standard hours from Monday to Friday.

Ambulance officers strike

Around 1100 First Union ambulance officers have voted for a second withdrawal of labour at Hato Hone St John, which will take place on September 27 and 30 for the first six hours of rostered shifts across the country. The strike action starts at 4am on both dates and continues for 24 hours each time. Ambulance officers have this week voted to reject ratification of a pay offer from St John for 17 months, which included minimal pay increases below the rate of inflation (3.25% for 12 months and 3% for seven months) and failed to address any other concerns around conditional parity with other health workers.

Fire warning

Fire and Emergency NZ staff battled three vegetation fires on Wednesday, leaving them to urge residents to take care with outdoor fires. One fire was at about 1.20pm at Kaingaroa in the Far North. The burn - involving a 40m x 5m area of pampas grass - was attended by three fire trucks, on site for nearly 50 minutes. About 3pm that afternoon staff from six stations attended a blaze that started as a controlled burn-off and spread over three acres at Kohuku in the Far North. Crews were still there extinguishing it several hours later, finally leaving at about 6.30pm. There was also a vegetation fire in the lower part of the region that day – midmorning at Matakohe, in the Kaipara district. Anyone wanting to light a fire outside should always check restrictions on the FENZ website and whether a permit was required first.

Students learn about food and farming

One hundred primary schools across New Zealand are now better resourced to teach their students about food and farming after winning George the Farmer book sets in a recent competition run by agri lending specialist Rabobank. The competition – which ran in late July and early August – was open to all primary schools across New Zealand and attracted entries from around the country. The winning schools were informed of their success in mid-August and the educational book sets (made up of six George the Farmer books) were delivered to the 100 winning schools earlier this month.