Bay Harbour: October 11, 2023

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday October 11 2023 Bay Harbour News
NEWS 5
Firefighters focus on preventing fires
• By Daniel Alvey
VOLUNTEER firefighters are
normally focused on putting
fires out, but now they are more
prepared to prevent them before
they start.
Fire and Emergency New
Zealand community risk
manager Dean Harker held a
training session with volunteers
from Banks Peninsula and
Selwyn District covering a range
of topics to help reduce fires.
Those volunteers are tasked
with upskilling their colleagues
and the public.
“What we’re doing is educating
them on readiness and recovery
resources that the community
risk management team have. The
purpose behind it is so that we
can upskill them, so they can
educate the public moving into
summer,” Harker said.
Fire chiefs are concerned about
the predicted dry conditions that
will prevail with the El Niño
weather pattern and the influence
it will have on fires over
summer.
Harker is expecting a busy
fire season with a very hot, dry
summer approaching.
“We want to get as much education
out there to the members of
the public and the communities.
So by upskilling the volunteers, it’s
another way that we can get that
messaging out.”
• Watch the video on
Starnews.co.nz
ACCESS: Dean Harker with a 4m by 4m inflatable which
shows how much room a fire appliance needs to access a
rural property.
PHOTOS: GEOFF SLOAN
He said a common cause of
scrub fires they have seen recently
is burn piles either getting
out of control or reigniting due
to embers not being dampened
down.
“The fire’s finished and then
it hasn’t been extinguished
properly. So what happens is the
strong nor’easters come and they
blow the top off the remaining
ashes, and then that ignites the
embers and they get blown into
other vegetation,” said Harker.
Sometimes it can take up to
three weeks for the ground to be
fully dampened down.
Harker said it is important
to use www.checkitsalright.nz
to find out about restrictions in
place and whether conditions
are okay for fire lighting. The
site is able to suggest a better
day, where the weather might be
more appropriate.
He said it’s also helpful for
people to ring fire communications
to inform them they are
having a fire to ensure they are
aware of it.
EDUCATION: Volunteers learning how to prevent fires.
The volunteers were also
shown examples of low-flammable
planting, which is part of
an education programme run
in conjunction with Lincoln
University.
Something like gorse will burn
much quicker than broadleaf.
“The low flammable planting
is plants that will burn, but at
a very, very slow rate. So what
we’re encouraging people to do
around their home is to use that
sort of planting to stop a fire if
it does come, to actually slow it
down to give them time.”
Other key steps to protecting
properties from the risk of
wildfires include keeping the
grass around buildings short and
clearing gutters of dead leaves
and debris.
Harker said access to a
property can also be challenging.
Property owners need to be
aware of how much space is
required to get a fire truck down
a driveway, which ideally is 4m
by 4m.
Other prevention measures
included in the training were
fire safety home visits, where
volunteers can check whether
smoke alarms are working and
their placement inside the house,
as well as escape plans if there is
a fire.
• Brigade’s anniversary book,
page 10
• If you are planning to have
a fire, contact your local
volunteer fire brigade:
fireandemergency.nz/finda-station/
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