Forecast wind sparks fire warnings for Northland next week

6 December 2024

Fire and Emergency is urging Northland people to avoid lighting fires, as wind adds extra fire risk to the hot, dry conditions.

Northland District Manager Wipari Henwood says while most of Northland is currently in an open fire season, the district is drying out quickly and people should avoid lighting fires if they can.

"The next few days - today through to Monday - will be extremely high risk, with stronger winds expected," he says.

"We’ve had two incidents this week where rubbish fires got out of control, and they both caused a lot of damage. However, they would have been much worse if those days had been windy.

"On Monday, we had a fire at Kaeo that narrowly missed people’s homes when it accelerated up a scrubby hill from the beach. That took three helicopters and five trucks to contain.

"Yesterday, we had another burn pile get out of control, which needed a helicopter and four crews to contain.

"If it had been windy those days as well as hot and dry, we could have seen much larger wildfires. That’s what we’re concerned about with these conditions over the next few days.

"We would urge people to avoid lighting fires at all right now.

"We are monitoring the weather conditions closely in Te Tai Tokerau, as the forecast is for a dry, windy summer.

"There are already very high temperatures and low humidity, which makes it really easy for fires to get started and creates a lot of dry vegetation that burns fast."

"Windy conditions are a clear signal not to light a fire and to check old fire sites to make sure they are not reigniting.

"The last thing we want to see is our whenua burning this summer."

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