Total fire ban imposed for rural fire district including Banks Peninsula

The Christchurch City Council has imposed a total fire ban for the Rural Fire District including Banks Peninsula.

Principal Rural Fire Officer Darrin Woods says the ban came into force at midnight Saturday 12 December and will stay until further notice.

"The ban means no-one is allowed to light a fire outdoors in the rural fire district using solid fuel. Barbeques or other similar devices using gas as a fuel source are still allowed, but we advise users to still take precautions to prevent them from causing a fire in surrounding vegetation" says Mr Woods. "It is now an offence to light any fire in the open air.

"Even though there has been some rain, there has not been enough to make any real difference to the fire risk," he says. "It would take steady rain over days if not weeks to ease the underlying drought condition and reduce the fire hazard enough for us to lift the ban.

"The long-range weather forecast is not predicting this type of rain until well into the New Year as we continue to be influenced by an El Niño weather pattern."

Mr Woods says if anyone does see fire or smoke, they should call 111 immediately as this gives the fire services a chance to put the fire out while it is still small.

He also advised that if anyone saw suspicious activity they should report it to the authorities.

There is also a ban on all outdoor burning in the urban fire district until further notice, except for hangis, pizza ovens, barbeques and umus. These are allowed if they are adequately supervised and there is a pressurised water supply immediately at hand.

Mr Woods says the bans are constantly being reviewed and will be lifted once the fire risk has fallen significantly.

The Rural Fire District covers all of Christchurch city except:

· The Urban Fire Districts of Christchurch, Brooklands, New Brighton, Sumner, Lyttelton, Diamond Harbour, Governors Bay, Little River and Akaroa set up under the Fire Service Act 1975

· State areas and any associated Fire Safety Margin administered by the Department of Conservation.

For more detail, check the Fire Restriction Notice that came into force from midnight Saturday 12 December 2015.

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