Bonfires and rubbish fires keep Hawke's Bay fire and emergency services busy

A Napier City Council ban on fires in public areas including beaches, parks and reserves did not stop members of the public lighting bonfires at Marine Parade, Napier on Saturday.

Fire and emergency crews attended 10 fires in total in relation to rubbish and bonfires, with more than half of those on Marine Pde.

In several instances, driftwood and logs had been set alight, a fire and emergency services spokesman said.

Logs and driftwood left burning on Marine Pde, a rubbish fire in a paddock, a backyard rubbish fire, a small rubbish fire under a bridge were some of the incidents attended by fire and emergency services from Napier and Hastings.

In all cases the fire was extinguished quickly or left to burn and no injuries were reported.

Fire and emergency crew also attended an incident at Lindisfarne College at 10.45am on Saturday, a fire and emergency services spokesman said.

"The school reported the incident about a suspicion that fire had gone into the walls of one of the dormitories.

"One of the dorms had fire in a wall, in that the wall felt hot.

"The area was evacuated, and the electrician had isolated the power. The incident might have been related to an electrical fault," the spokesman said.

The fire brigade was at the scene to check for hotspots and two appliances attended the incident.

Fire and emergency services also responded to reports of a shed fire at Williams St, Marewa.

The incident occurred at 2.49pm and two appliances from Napier attended the scene.

"The woodshed was well involved, but we got it under control shortly after 3pm."

The cause of the fire was unknown and no injuries were reported.

A flooding incident in Hastings at 11.19pm on Saturday was also attended by fire and emergency services.

"We got reports about flooding in the ceiling of a house.

"It was believed to be a burst pipe. It caused a significant leak in the ceiling.

"The brigade isolated the power and carried out some salvage work. They then left it in the hands of the occupant."

One appliance from Hastings attended the incident and was there for 30 minutes.