Patrols at Sulphur Point following fires

A suspicious blaze near Sulphur Point has brought out more patrols in the area.

A vegetation fire on Sulphur Point is the latest in a spate of blazes across Rotorua being treated as suspicious.

Fire crews were called out to the 20m-long blaze on Sunday around 3.30pm.

Firefighters were at the scene for an hour and 20 minutes containing the blaze and ensuring it would not spark back up.

Earlier this month firefighters were called to a small vegetation fire in the reserve near Pohutukawa Ave, as well as a fire in Linton Park that took five fire trucks and 30 firefighters to extinguish.

In November a large blaze in Sulphur Bay, spanning about a kilometre, was battled by 10 fire appliances and two helicopters with monsoon buckets.

The fire, which left the area gutted, took four hours to contain.

Rotorua Lakes Council's rural fire zone manager Richard Horn said Sunday's Sulphur Point fire was the latest blaze being treated as suspicious.

"There is nothing to suggest it is the same person or same group of people, so we are urging the public to report any suspicious behaviour they notice.

"We do see a pickup in the number of fires during the holidays and over summer with more people using the area.

"Because Sulphur Point is open to the public and is a popular walking spot, we at the Rotorua Lakes Council, have started patrolling the area to try to deter any suspicious activity.

"Other than that, all we can really do is be prepared to respond as fast as possible to ensure we can contain any fires to as small an area as possible.

"This largely comes down to the public reporting any signs of a fire immediately.

"We would rather respond to a call that turns out to be a false alarm than turn up to a blaze that is well involved and has rapidly spread."

Mr Horn said it was also a reminder for smokers to be vigilant when putting out their cigarettes in high fire risk areas.