A Far North man can expect to receive a $6000 bill in the mail after a rubbish fire got out of control and spread into about half a hectare of scrub at Motutangi, south of Houhora, last week.
The bulk of the cost was incurred by a helicopter that was dispatched from Paihia on Tuesday evening, while crews from the Kaitaia Fire Brigade and the Houhora Rural Fire Force attacked the flames on the ground.
Principal Rural Fire Officer Myles Taylor said the blaze, like 90 per cent of the fires he dealt with, started 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 Road and State Highway 12 outside Kaikohe about 9.30am on Wednesday. Mr Taylor said the deliberately-lit roadside fire engulfed a 20x40m patch of dead, recently sprayed gorse, and had had the potential to spread into a large area of scrub.
It was put out by the Kaikohe Fire Brigade and Kaikohe Rural Fire.
