Northland news in brief

Large pieces of whale carcass are still on Ripiro Beach after two humpbacks died there last week, prompting a safety warning for people not to touch the rotting flesh.

Whale carcass checked

Department of Conservation staff were yesterday assessing a large piece of whale carcass which remains on Ripiro Beach following the death of two humpback whales which washed ashore last week. DOC spokeswoman Abi Monteith said there are several small pieces of whale carcass on the beach which is a by-product of the flensing process. These pieces will be washed away naturally or decompose.

Monteith said there is one large piece which DOC were sending staff to look at yesterday. She asked people to avoid the pieces of whale carcass for safety reasons. The two whales washed ashore on August 5. The juvenile whale died the next day, while the adult was euthanised the day after. The rahui from Baylys Beach to Mahuta Gap remains in place.

Sleepout burned

It was variously described as a house, a bach and a derelict shed, but the building that was destroyed by fire at Ahipara on Sunday evening was a sleepout according to Ahipara's Chief Fire Officer Dave Ross.

The occupier had partially demolished the Roma Rd structure, and was burning rubbish when the flames took hold of what was still standing. The brigade's major concern was that the fire would spread to a nearby house, which the crew prevented, with a little help from the Kaitaia brigade.

"We only carry 1400 litres of water, which was gone in a nanosecond," Ross said. Water from two of the three Kaitaia appliances did the job, although not before the flames had spread to nearby trees. Nothing of the sleepout was standing by the time the fire was extinguished.

1000 teachers on strike

More than 1000 Northland teachers and principals will be walking out of their classrooms and on to the streets today in a fight for better pay and working conditions. NZEI union members will be marching in Whangārei, Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Dargaville as part of the campaign.

There are four main issues NZEI members are focusing on - the crisis in education, time and workload, salary, and career development. The Ministry of Education had offered to increase pay, in the majority of cases, by between 2.2 and 2.6 per cent a year for three years. That offer was a far cry from the 16 per cent increase teachers felt was needed over the two years to retain teachers and help recruit new ones.

No contamination

Refining NZ says reports that its Marsden Pt oil refinery is contaminated from firefighting foams are misleading. The company said tests at the refinery's fire ground have shown only minute levels of PFOS and PFOA which are at, or well below the Heads of Environmental Protection Authorities (HEPA) guideline values for drinking water.

Testing of shellfish adjacent to the refinery carried out by an independent Melbourne-based laboratory, showed no level of PFOS or PFOA present in any of the samples. PFOS and PFOA firefighting foams are not used at Marsden Point and were replaced in 2005 when concerns about the impact of these foams first surfaced, Refining NZ said. PFOS and PFOA are manmade chemicals belonging to the group known as Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.