Northland faces 'very high' fire risk, with forecast rain 'unlikely to change much'

Monday, 4 March 2019

A total fire ban has been issued across Northland, but local emergency services had been called to six rubbish fires this week that had got out of hand.

Northland is facing a 'very high' risk of fire after receiving only five per cent of last January's rainfall in the first month of the year.

The region only got two days of rain this January – 6.8mm in total, according to the Kerikeri weather station. In January 2018 it recorded a total of 141.6mm of rainfall.

Rain forecast from Saturday was unlikely to change much, deputy principal rural fire officer Wayne Martin said.

The dry season had already caused a number of issues for Northland with water shortages and restrictions, fire bans and low livestock feeds towards the end of February.

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Martin said the lack of rain had heightened the risk of fire this year.

'We haven't had [a fire ban] like this in a number of years,' he said.

'The number of fires has increased quite a bit compared to previous years.

'We are getting a lot of people lighting illegal rubbish fires – they're probably getting frustrated because of the long prohibited season.'

He said in the past week there had been six rubbish fires that had got out of control and numerous brigades had been sent out to stop people lighting them.

Martin said people needed to take note of the 'very high risk' status and the restrictions that were in place.

The latest MetService forecast showed Northland could expect rain from Saturday 9 into the following week.

At least a week's worth of steady rain was needed to reduce fire risk, Wayne said, as one day of heavy rain would just run off the dry ground.

Farmers had better news, with livestock feed lasting longer than normal.

Federated Farmers Northland president John Blackwell said the farming industry hadn't suffered too badly at the hands of this year's dry season, with silos more full than most years.

'We are often out of feed by November, but we still have quite a bit left.'

Wayne said due to a 'wet ending' to 2018, farmers 'probably didn't stock as well as we normally do' as the good conditions allowed for plenty of feed.

Northland regional councils still have water restrictions in place, with the severity depending on the suburb.

Be Water Wise suggested residents check on leaky taps no matter where they lived, as they could waste more than a bath tub's worth of water per week.

Northland Council had also taken advantage of the dry season to reinforce Awanui River as part of their flood scheme.

The $15 million, several-year upgrade got a 'dream start' as the lack of rain meant there was no delays on construction of a new emergency spillway and repairs to a big stretch of stopbank.