Beach blazes keep firefighters busy

People ignoring or unaware of urban fire bans in Napier have been creating a weekend callout nuisance for firefighters. Photo / Roger Moroney

Illegal fires being lit on Marine Parade's foreshore are keeping firefighters busy and they worry it could lead to more serious blazes if the drying weather continues.

"It's every weekend," Napier station officer Warrick Le Quesne said of the beachfront blazes.

Winter storms which stacked up large amounts of driftwood along the Marine Parade beach, coupled with increasingly dry conditions, had led to a now regular problem for fire crews - having to put out fires which are lit illegally, as there is a ban on open fires in urban areas.

Last Saturday night, the call came in about 9.15pm to say a fire was burning on the seafront.

Fire crews spent about 50 minutes at the scene ensuring it was completely extinguished and made checks of the nearby grassed areas to make sure there were no lingering embers as the wind had increased.

"The thing is a lot of people light these fires and just walk away and leave them - you get a sea breeze come in and they could easily take to dry grass."

Mr Le Quesne said many people were simply unaware the city was under a total fire ban, which had been put in place in 2010. While the city is presently in an "open fire season", that only applied to rural areas.

Fires are not permitted in urban areas, except for "traditional" cooking fires.

When firefighters arrived to put out either rubbish fires or night-time fires on the beachfront they were often greeted with a response along the lines of "we didn't know".

Mr Le Quesne said with conditions getting drier it was anticipated a restricted fire season would soon come into play, which meant people could only light a fire if a permit was issued by the council.

The prospect of a dry and windy El Nino weather pattern dominating the eastern regions was of concern, he said, and the community had to do their bit and be cautious and responsible.

"There is a lot of growth out there and we are going into the fire season."

The only fires that can be lit in urban designated areas, which includes the waterfront, are traditional cooking fires.

As the Napier City Council fire bylaws state, all other fires, recreational and incinerator rubbish fires, are banned in the city limits.

The rules:

* Napier City is currently in an Open Fire Season for rural areas. Open fires (aside from cooking fires) are not permitted in urban areas. Burning rubbish, as well as not being an
environmentally friendly way of refuse disposal, is prohibited in urban areas of
the city.

* The Hastings District Council presently has an "open fire season" operating.

* All outdoor fires are permitted with no requirement for a fire permit. When a fire is lit it
must be done so in a safe and considerate manner "that does not cause a nuisance to your neighbours".

* However, all fires in the open burning during the hours of darkness require a fire permit. This includes fires that have been burned during the day and are not completely out.