Fire inquiry focuses on powerlines

INVESTIGATION: An electrical engineer has been brought in to investigate whether arcing powerlines caused the Waimarama fire last week. PHOTO/FILE

An electrical engineer is investigating whether arcing powerlines sparked the Waimarama fire early last week.

Crews from around the North Island responded to the blaze, which put the Hastings district into a state of emergency, left 162ha of countryside black and caused one house to burn to the ground.

Principal rural fire officer Trevor Mitchell said the council hired an external specialist rural fire investigator who employed the services of an electrical engineer.

Mr Mitchell said this engineer would provide a report on whether powerlines caused the fire.

Waimarama Rd resident Doug Lowe, who was first to spot the fire and dial 111, was one who speculated that powerlines arcing caused the blaze.

Mr Lowe said new powerlines and a big new transformer had been put in near his property before the fires, and he wondered whether the lines company had increased the voltage.

"The Unison guys had come in to trim some of the trees and they were right on the spot but with the fires we have had lately there has been that strong wind," Mr Lowe said at the time.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule also said at the press conference last Monday that some fires in the past month had been caused by arcing powerlines though it was not sure whether this occurred in the Waimarama blaze.

Mr Mitchell said bringing in an electrical engineer did not indicate any predetermining of a cause - rather it was a case of working through potential causes.

"No cause has been ruled in or out of the inquiry as yet except for lightning."

Unison relationship manager Danny Gough said the company's position had not changed as none of its lines picked up any tripping event at the start of the fire.

He said that usually if the lines arced this tripping event would be picked up on the system.

"In saying that, we are happy to support the council and will work closely and constructively with them as we are also keen to find out the cause."

Mr Gough said people had their own opinions about the cause but Unison would rather go through with the investigation than speculate about what might have happened.

The investigation is expected to take about another month to complete but Mr Mitchell said that depended on how difficult the cause was to find.