Dry December Sparks Rural Fire Restriction

Fire restrictions will be in place from midnight on Thursday in all rural areas in New Plymouth District.


And residents in urban areas are asked to be very careful with any outdoor fire – and if you don’t need it, don’t light.

The restrictions follow a series of fires in the district in the last 10 days, the largest of which was at Hickford Park, Bell Block, yesterday (Monday).

Anyone in a rural area will need to apply to New Plymouth District Council if they want to light an outdoor fire during the fire restriction period.

“Barbecues, incinerators and fires in similar enclosures are allowed, but all other outdoor fires in rural areas will need a permit,” says Rural Fire Officer Lester Barnes.

“It takes two days for a permit to be processed, which includes a visit to the intended location, so people will need to contact the council in plenty of time before the day they plan to light an outdoor fire.

“If a proposed fire isn’t appropriate in the current conditions, a permit won’t be given.”
Even though a fire restriction is not in place in urban areas, residents are urged to take special care.

“There is a high fire risk at the moment so if you don’t need a fire, please defer it,” says Mr Barnes.

“If you do light a fire in an urban area you can increase the safety by keeping it small, never leaving it unattended, and having a water source handy in case the fire starts to get out of hand.

“Already we are at the highest rural fire risk for December that’s been recorded at New Plymouth Airport in the past 25 years, so vigilance around all open-air fires is particularly important,” he says.

Yesterday’s fire in Hickford Park burnt an area 1.5km long and about 100m wide. A ground crew was in the park this morning to dampen down hotspots.