Far North fire risk grows

The fire risk in the tinder-dry Far North is now at its highest level in a decade yet people are still ignoring the region's total fire ban.
Far North Principal Rural Fire Officer Lance Johnston said fire indices - which indicate fire risk - in the Far North have soared to the highest levels experienced in the last decade.
But many people are ignoring the risk and putting themselves in danger of being prosecuted and having to pay the costs of fighting fires.
"I can't recall seeing the fire danger level this high in the last 10 years. Yet for some reason, people are still ignoring the total fire ban and persisting in lighting fires in the open," Mr Johnston said.
The Kaitaia area in particular had experienced numerous callouts in the last few days, all of which had resulted from small fires lit in contravention of the fire ban.
"A stage has been reached at which we really have no other option but to start issuing infringement notices and initiating prosecutions," he said. "People don't seem to realise just how dangerous the situation is at the present time, and seem oblivious to the fact that fire authorities can seek to fully recover the cost of suppressing fires from the property owners responsible.
"This is not something we want to do. But unless the situation improves we really do not have too many choices."
Apart from the risk to property and residents, every time a firefighter was called out, they were putting their lives at risk, Mr Johnston said.
"The situation is only going to change when the rains come. In the meantime it is in everybody's interests that people co-operate by respecting the fire ban. Bans are not imposed without very good reason," he said.
Over summer the Far North experienced a number of fires, including two on Department of Conservation land at Kaimaumau and Te Paki. Those two fires threatened large tracts of important conservation estate, which included numerous endangered flora and fauna. The situation in Kaitaia is being compounded by a suspected firebug, who is believed to have caused blazes at several properties over the past 12 months.