Our 3-Step Escape Plan

  • First Escape Route
  • Second Escape Route
  • Meeting Place
Notes

Use this space to note any additional information about your escape plan, i.e. who will assist

Your checklist
  • Get low

    Smoke is poisonous and more deadly than flames.

    If you breathe smoke for more than a few breaths it can kill you.

  • Be fast

    A house fire can kill you in less than three minutes.

    Don't spend time trying to save possessions.

  • Close doors

    A closed door buys you time.

    It slows down the spread of fire, giving you more time to get to safety.

  • Get out - stay out!

    People have died by going back into a fire.

    Don't leave the meeting place to go back inside for any reason.

 

Fire Type

Description

Conditions you
need to follow for the fire type to be considered authorised

Restricted
season

Prohibited
season

Gas-operated appliances

Manufactured gas-operated appliances, such as barbeques, gas outdoor fireplaces and outdoor gas heaters.

Find out more about the safe use of:

Authorised
fire type

Authorised
fire type

Charcoal
barbeques
or grills

Barbeques or grills that use either charcoal briquettes or natural lump charcoal as their fuel source.

  • Don’t use on an apartment balcony, deck, under a roof overhang or within other enclosed areas.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach -  a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Open top liquid fuel cooker

Examples include (but are not limited to) portable smokers.

These are usually small portable cooking devices that are liquid-fueled with an open fuel container either under or in the cooking device.

  • Must be on a non-combustible area/base.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • Don’t light your fire within 3 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Non-pressurised liquid-fueled heaters

Examples include (but are not limited to) frost pot, smudge pot, diesel heater.

Usually fueled by diesel, vegetable oil, kerosene or waste oil.

 
  • Must be at least 3 metres clear of any of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • Must be placed on a non-combustible surface, not directly on grass or wooden decks.
  • You must not use the heater in small, confined areas.
  • If refuelling, ensure heater has cooled down before refilling.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Permanent outdoor fireplace

Wood-fired pizza oven/wood oven

 

Purpose-built or manufactured woodburning fireplace/wood oven with an open front and a vertical smoke vent/chimney.

Generally constructed of concrete, concrete blocks, stone, or bricks, fixed in place (not mobile/movable).

Usually in home outdoor entertaining areas

 
  • Must have a non-combustible hearth or base that extends a minimum of 500 mm either side of the left and right edges and a minimum of 1 m from the front edge of the fire box. This is to stop any burning material falling from the fire box landing onto anything combustible.
  • Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap, or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
  • Firewood storage must be in areas not affected by heat from the fire and clear of any possible hot ash or ember-affected areas.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish the fire within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning, or
  • It must have a solid or mesh screen/door, that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box
  • Fireplaces with external construction made of steel must be at least 1 metre clear of any of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Movable/ portable free-standing front-loading fireplace

 

Examples include (but are not limited to) chiminea.

A freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven usually with a bulbous body – usually has a vertical smoke vent or chimney

 
  • Don’t light your fire within three metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish that will easily reach it, a maximum of five metres away.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning or
  • It must have a solid or mesh screen/door that prevents any burning material from escaping the fire box.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Cultural cooking fires

Examples include hāngï, umu, and lovo.

  • Your fire area must be less than 4 square metres.
  • Don’t light your fire within 5 metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres from your cultural fire.
  • You must not leave the fire unsupervised while burning.
  • On completion of cooking or the purpose required for cooking food the fires must be extinguished.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.
  • Find out more about the safe use of cultural cooking fires.

Authorised fire type

Authorised fire type

Braziers

A container for hot coals – usually an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box.

  • Your fire area must be less than one square metre.
  • Where hot embers/ash are able to escape, there must be a non-combustible base/tray that will contain these hot embers/ash to prevent any risk of fire escaping.
  • Don’t light your fire within three metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach a maximum of 5 metres from your brazier or fire pit/bowl.
  • You must not leave unsupervised while burning.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Fire pits/bowls (Recreational)

A pit dug in the ground made from stone, brick or metal or a bowl on an upright stand.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Manufactured or drum incinerators A drum or container, with a mesh or solid lid designed to prevent the escape of hot ash or fire, often with a vertical smoke vent or chimney; designed exclusively for incineration.
  • Don’t light your fire within five metres of any part of a building, hedge, shelter belt or any other combustible material.
  • You must have a suitable way to extinguish it within easy reach – a maximum of 5 metres from your incinerator.
  • Smoke vent/chimneys must have a purpose-built manufactured cap or maximum 5 mm steel mesh fitted in the top to stop any hot ash or embers from escaping.
  • If you cannot meet these conditions, you must apply for a permit.

Authorised fire type

Prohibited fire type*

Campfires

A fire (less than 0.5m diameter x 0.5m height) at a campsite that provides light and warmth, and heat for cooking.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out more about how to use campfires safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Bonfires

A large, but controlled outdoor fire, used for recreation or celebration.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to use bonfires safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Burn piles/pits

Burning cut and stacked vegetation. Includes horticulture branch/piles, offal pits or land clearing heaps for disposing of burnable waste material.

  • You need to comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out more about how to use burn piles or pits safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Crop
residue/ stubble
burns

Burning straw stubble or crop residue on fire that remains after wheat and other grains have been harvested.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Broadcast
land clearing
burns

Fire applied generally to most or all of an area within well-defined boundaries to remove grass, scrub or forest cutover.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to carry out land-clearning burns safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Windrows

Burning of vegetation that is placed in long narrow rows, generally as a result of forest or scrub clearing.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
  • Find out about how to carry out pile and windrow burns safely.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*

Other

Fires not captured in other fire types.

Examples include but are not limited to: fires for biosecurity or public health, planned structure fires.

  • You must comply with the conditions on your permit issued by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Permit required

Prohibited fire type*


*Fire and Emergency will only grant permits while a prohibition is in force if:

  • that is necessary to prevent, reduce, or overcome any hazard to life or because of any other serious emergency; or
  • weather or other conditions have temporarily reduced the fire hazard so as to make it apparently safe to light a fire.