Hands burned in LPG incident

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

An LPG situation at Pouawa and a small driftwood fire at the mouth of Waipaoa River resulted in emergency services call-outs over the weekend.

The Pouawa incident happened in the driveway of a property at around 11pm on Friday.

“We were called to a situation where a man had suffered burns to his hands, believed to be as a result of an issue with an LPG container,” a senior firefighter said.

“The man was treated by ambulance officers at the scene and transported to Gisborne Hospital by ambulance.”

The senior firefighter said the incident illustrated the highly flammable nature of LPG.

“It must be handled with care.”

On Sunday at 3.15pm, Fire and Emergency NZ was called to a fire in driftwood at the mouth of the Waipaoa River.

“It was a small fire, covering about 10x10 metres. But it took about 45 minutes to put it completely out.”

The senior firefighter said how the fire started was not known.

“It showed just how dry it has been getting out there.”