Errant rocket fires up $20,000 bill

Flames light the sky at Mangawhai on Saturday night. Picture / Stewart Lind

An Auckland man whose fireworks sparked a bush fire in Northland on Saturday night may face a $20,000 bill for the blaze.

The fire on council land near the Mangawhai beach resort, about 120km north of Auckland, started about 10pm and burned between 4ha and 5ha before being brought under control about 11pm.

Des Partington of the Mangawhai Heads Fire Service spoke to a man whose wayward skyrocket was believed to have caused the fire.

"He had the skyrockets set to go towards the sea and was letting them off to show his kids," Mr Partington said yesterday.

"But they were in a bottle in soft sand and when he moved away after lighting it, it shifted and went into the bush instead.

"He's very, very upset about it."

But despite his remorse, the man - believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s - was set to face the consequences, Mr Partington said.

"Eventually he will probably be charged, though I don't know that for sure," he said. "But certainly he will be getting a bill for it, which will probably be about $20,000."

The fire is the second in the Mangawhai area to have been started by fireworks this month. The first, much smaller in scale, came a few minutes after midnight on New Year's Day.

"We have a total fire ban in this area, and that includes fireworks," Mr Partington said. "But that and even punishments don't seem to have that much effect. The trouble is trying to convince people that they are not 12 feet high and bulletproof."

Two helicopters, five fire appliances and two Department of Conservation crews helped get the fire under control, DoC duty officer David Thonig said yesterday.

"We had a couple of flare-ups during the night which the crews looked after and there's about three crews there dealing with hot spots.

"We want to get the message out that perhaps it's not the best time to be playing with fireworks," he said. "We've had a total fire ban since about Christmas and it's very dry up here."

DoC co-ordinated the firefighting because the blaze was within 1km of DoC coastal land at Mangawhai, a breeding ground for dotterels, which were not threatened by the fire.

- NZPA