Welcome Bay fireworks fiesta event up in the air with dry conditions but wet forecast

Too little or too much rain might jeopardise the community event for the second time. Photo / File

Welcome Bay's annual community fireworks event is under threat by both too little and too much rain.

The Tye Park Fireworks Fiesta is planned for this Friday after being postponed due to bad weather last November.

There is a total fire ban in place across the Bay of Plenty due to extreme fire risk after a month without rain. Rain was, however, forecast to arrive later this week.

Event organiser Anna Larson said she was stuck between a "rock and a hard place" with regards to the finicky weather.

"The fire department is happy for [the fireworks] to go ahead if it rains enough, but if it rains enough we might not be able to hold the event."

She was watching multiple weather forecasts and each showed a different situation.

One indicated there would be heavy rain that would clear by the time the event started, with another predicted it would "bucketing down" for three days.

Larson said the pyrotechnic team in charge of the fireworks had recently conducted a similar display in Auckland, where there is also a fire ban, and that the decision was in the hands of "experts".

The event could go ahead without the fireworks display, she said.

Fireworks were the suspected cause of a scrub fire in Humber Cres, Gate Pā on Friday night.

Four trucks were called about 9.13pm to extinguish the 20-by-20 metre blaze.

A police spokesman said it appeared the fire was caused by adults and children lighting fireworks in a reserve.