Serious scrub fire deliberately lit

DANGEROUS WORK: A Salt Air helicopter fights the flames of Tuesday's blaze with a monsoon bucket filled at a nearby pond. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF

Fire investigators have confirmed that a serious blaze south of Kaikohe was deliberately lit.

The blaze on Mangakahia Rd, Tautoro, threatened two homes and a large block of native bush on Tuesday afternoon.

About 20 firefighters from Kaikohe's fire brigade and rural fire party, plus three helicopters using monsoon buckets, managed to confine the fire to about 4ha of scrub.

It started just over 24 hours into a Far North fire ban and was the district's third suspected arson in three days.

Northern principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said the investigation had revealed the fire started not by the roadside as first suspected, but near some well-used tracks within the scrub.

The findings had given investigators strong lines of inquiry as they went looking for the culprits, he said.

Meanwhile, Thursday night's rain had helped dampen down the fire but did not extinguish it completely. Firefighters hoped to inspect the area last night using a thermal camera to find any remaining hotspots.

About 15 forestry workers have been on site daily since Wednesday looking for hotspots and putting out flare-ups, including one around noon on Wednesday.

Investigators were also due to head to Taemaro Rd, northeast of Mangonui, to look for the cause of a grass fire put out by the Taupo Bay Rural Fire Party about 5pm on Thursday.

A grass fire at nearby Waimahana Bay in May this year led to the death in hospital some days later of a local resident who had been trying to fight the flames.

As well as being prosecuted for the crime of arson - which carries a maximum penalty of seven years' jail - people found to have deliberately lit a fire can also be billed for the costs of putting it out.

Last summer fires in Northland claimed two lives and cost $2 million to put out.

That does not include the value of destroyed property, such as 350ha of pine trees at Horeke and a number of homes and baches on the Karikari Peninsula.

The cost of sending out a fire appliance starts at about $500; costs rise dramatically once helicopters are required.

A helicopter costs around $2500 an hour to run. In the most serious cases the authority would also take offenders to court.