Hamish Smith, group manager Fire and Emergency Hawke’s Bay, describes the situation at the scene of a six-hectare scrub fire in Waiwhare, Hastings district.
Firefighters have responded to a flurry of vegetation fires around Hawke’s Bay, leading to a reminder for people to remain vigilant when burning.
While there is an open fire season in place for most of the region, parts of the Bay remain dry and fires should only be lit withcaution.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand responded to a call from the property owner again on Saturday morning, after a flare-up, to extinguish a 20x40m fire.
Firefighters were there on Sunday just making sure the area was safe.
Smaller fires over the weekend which needed to be extinguished included a fire in a pile of leaves about 1pm on Saturday near Hastings Library, a 30x20m grass fire about two hours later on Brookvale Rd in Havelock North, and a small vegetation fire off Chambers St in Te Awa later that evening.
Fire and Emergency Hawke’s Bay acting district manager Jason Hill said some areas in the region remained dry despite recent rainfall, while others were starting to “green up”.
He said there was an open fire season in place for most of the region.
Dozens of firefighters fought a 6ha fire in rural Waiwhare, west of Napier, late last week. Photo / Warren Buckland
“Farmers are out burning and people are still cleaning up post-cyclone, but we are just asking them to really be vigilant,” he said.
“The biggest thing people need to be vigilant of is wind. You can think a fire is out ... but you get a little bit of wind and it can quickly flare up.”
He said double-checking a fire was completely extinguished was important, through actions such as checking the following day.
He said the exceptions to the open fire season were the Hawke’s Bay coastal and Tararua east zones, which are restricted and require a permit.
That includes areas such as Cape Kidnappers down the coast to south of Pōrangahau.
A helicopter helping put out the fire in Waiwhare. Photo / Warren Buckland
He said people should always go online to checkitsalright.nz to see whether they can burn in a given area.
“Follow those safe burning practices, which you can find on [the website], and ideally have a suitable means to contain or extinguish a fire if needed - for example, a water sprayer or a mechanical digger if it is a bigger fire.”
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
