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Fire Restrictions for Whakatane District

Monday 2 February 2009, 11:55AM

By Whakatane District Council

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WHAKATANE

Whakatane District Council has imposed immediate restrictions on the use of fire for recreational and land management purposes.

The Council’s Principal Rural Fire Officer Bill Wycherley says the current Fire Danger levels have escalated to an extent that any possible fire outbreak would be extremely difficult and expensive to control and extinguish.

He says the District has a “Restricted Fire Season” in force which means that a Fire Permit is required to light any open air fire and also warned that costs of controlling and suppressing a fire are passed on to the persons responsible for starting the fire. The fire weather index for the District (monitored at the Whakatane Airport, Kawerau and Galatea) is currently extreme.
Mr Wycherley said areas of particular concern are the coastal strip from Port Ohope to Otamarakau, Onepu Otakiri Kawerau areas, and Galatea. Residents and members of the public are asked to remain vigilant and immediately report any sightings of smoke.

He said farmers considering doing any rotary slash mowing should put it off in the current hot dry conditions as the blades hitting a stone or piece of metal may be enough to ignite a fire.

In order to reduce the likelihood of uncontrolled fires occurring within the Whakatane District, Mr Wycherley has put in place a number of measures including:

Encouraging fire permit holders and applicants to put off burning until conditions ease, unless an applicant has a special need to use fire for a particular purpose.
Work with Whakatane Coast Guard to broadcast messages to boat operators asking for their help to report any smoke sightings from sea.
Assistance of the public in reporting any fire they see, by calling the 111 system when it appears that the fire may be out of control or is unattended.

Any queries regarding fire permits should be directed to the Principal Rural Fire Officer at the Council on 306 0500