Rogue rubbish blaze cost $6000

Principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said the blaze started, like 90 per cent of the fires he dealt with. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Far North man is facing a $6000 bill after a rubbish fire got out of control and spread into about half a hectare of scrub.

The bulk of the bill is to cover the cost of the helicopter which had to be sent from Paihia to Motutangi, 50km north of Kaitaia, to fight the Tuesday evening blaze.

Firefighters from Kaitaia and the Pukenui Rural Fire Force attacked the flames from the ground.

Principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said the blaze started, like 90 per cent of the fires he dealt with, when someone lit a pile of household rubbish without paying attention to the conditions.

A helicopter was also dispatched, but turned back when it was not needed, to a fire at the corner of Rakauwahia Rd and State Highway 12 east of Kaikohe about 9.30am on Wednesday.

Mr Taylor said the deliberately lit fire engulfed a large patch of gorse. It was put out by the Kaikohe Fire Brigade and Kaikohe Rural Fire.

A restricted fire season came into force across the Far North just before Labour Weekend. Permits are needed for any outdoor rural fire except barbecues, hangi and umu, as long as the conditions described on the website havingafire.org.nz are met. Rural fires are still permitted in the Whangarei and Kaipara districts.

In some fire-prone parts of the Far North, including Pukenui, scene of Tuesday's fire, permits are needed all year round.