Big bills are in the mail

JOB DONE: Firefighters getting the better of the blaze that treatened a house and sleepout on Paparore Road on Saturday.

Several Far North land owners can expect hefty bills in the mail after a spate of fires around the district, one of which threatened a major Mid North forestry block on Tuesday evening.

Fire restrictions have been in place in the Far North since December, but the Rural Fire Authority went further last week, cancelling (as of Saturday) the few permits that had been issued and vowing to dispatch a helicopter at the first sign of smoke anywhere in the district.

Any fire-starters who could be identified would be ordered to pay firefighting costs, including helicopters, which cost around $800 to get off the ground and about $2000 an hour to operate.

The most serious of Tuesday's rash of fires was in a Ngati Hine-owned forestry block near Moerewa, spotted about 6.20pm by a Salt Air chopper pilot on his way to another fire at Rawene. Principal Rural Fire Officer Myles Taylor said three helicopters, from Paihia and Whangarei, were dispatched, along with four ground crews from Kaikohe and Kawakawa.

Hitting the blaze fast and hard had limited the damage to an area of about 40 metres square.

Mr Taylor said a small campfire that someone had tried to extinguish, and cover with soil, appeared to be the likely cause, wind blowing embers into nearby pine needles.

"It's madness to have any sort of fire close to vegetation at this time,"he said, adding that the ground crews' job was made difficult by the inaccessible location, off Ngawhitu Road.

Two fires on Tuesday afternoon had not been malicious but had been caused by people not paying heed to the fire danger. Two helicopters were sent to a vegetation fire near State Highway 12, South Hokianga, sparked by fireworks about 5.35pm, while a grass fire at Ahipara about 5.50pm was started by a Kaka Street land owner.

Earlier in the day, about 11.45am, a helicopter was dispatched to Hukatere Road, Pukenui but was not needed, the property owner extinguishing what was described as a small grass fire.

Mr Taylor said the authority was investigating all four fires, and would recover its costs wherever the people responsible could be identified. In the case of the Hokianga fire, two helicopters had flown from Paihia, a trip of about 20 minutes each way, costing more than $2000 even before the choppers got to work.