Cost of Far North fires tops $1 million

This 40 hectare scrub fire destroyed at least two homes and forced five people to flee into the water at Matai Bay on Karikari Peninsula, 40km north-east of Kaitaia. Photo / Petrina Hodgson

Fighting fires in the Far North - most started by arsonists - has cost more than $1 million this summer.

With at least two months to go before the fire risk starts falling, the Northern Rural Fire Authority is warning the cost is likely to rise.

Principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said 2011-12 was shaping up to be another expensive fire season, approaching the $1.6 million bill racked up in the drought-hit 2009-10 season and bringing the cost of fighting Northland's rural fires in the past five years to more than $7 million.

The most expensive fire this season was a roadside scrub fire which spread into a pine plantation near Horeke, South Hokianga, destroying about 345ha of forest and costing $856,000 to put out.

Earlier fires at Ahipara and Maitai Bay cost $80,000 and $114,000, respectively, to extinguish.

The financial cost of the suspicious fire on the Karikari Peninsula, which razed at least two homes and took the lives of a Department of Conservation (DoC) ranger and a helicopter pilot, is still being assessed.

Mr Taylor said claims had been lodged with the National Rural Fire Fighting Fund to recover the costs from the Horeke, Ahipara and Maitai Bay fires, but in the meantime the costs were being carried by the Far North District Council.

The Rural Fire Authority took a hard line on recovering full costs from those responsible for fires which raced out of control, he said.

The fire authority's figures did not take into account costs resulting from lost productivity or the costs carried by employers of the volunteer firefighters.

"The message is pretty simple: Light fires at your own peril, because one way or another, there will be a price to pay," Mr Taylor said.

Nor do the fire authority costs include destroyed property such as the pine forest at Horeke.

The principal shareholder of White Cliffs Forest did not want to comment on the value of trees lost.

The bulk of the 2009-2010 fire bill resulted from a blaze at Kaimaumau which spread into underground peat, taking six weeks and $1 million to put out.

While the district council pays firefighting bills initially, in most cases the National Rural Fire Fighting Fund reimburses 95 per cent. The rest, $50,000 so far this season, is paid by ratepayers.

Money in the National Rural Fire Fighting Fund comes from a fire levy paid by insurance policy holders and from DoC.