Fire permits issued again in the Coromandel Peninsula

From today, fire permits will once again be issued in the Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) area, according to the District's Principal Rural Fire Officer, Del Read.

The recent rain and temperature change has relieved the Fire Danger level, enough for the reissuing of conditional permits.

Duration of permits cannot yet exceed two weeks, since some areas remain relatively dry with limited access to water for fire fighting. "I am leaving it to the discretion of individual Rural Fire Officers to determine which sites need to be visited or revisited and just how much material is acceptable to burn," said Mr Read, "but from today, fire permits can now be issued over the TCDC area."

Fire permit applicants are also being reminded of their obligations to have someone present at the fire site when the fire is burning, and to have the ability to extinguish the fire at any time with water, machinery or both.