LA NINA continues - overgrown section THREAT mounts

 Overgrown and tinder-dry sections are causing increasing concern in the Queenstown Lakes District as the La Nina weather pattern promises more hot weather in store, Queenstown Lakes District Council principal rural fire officer Gordon Bailey said. .

“There is justification for mounting concern that some of these sections are becoming a major fire risk,” Mr Bailey said.

The council itself was implementing a programme to get ‘its own house in order’ and urged all ratepayers to take the threat seriously.

“There are some reserves both in the Queenstown and Wanaka areas that we now have plans in place to clear,” Mr Bailey said.

The more pressing threat was privately owned land which posed a direct threat to housing.

“Under the Local Government Act the council can require the landowner to clear a section if it is considered a fire hazard. If necessary we can have the work tendered and carried out at the cost of the landowner,” QLDC chief executive Duncan Field said.

At present several properties a month in the district were subject to fire hazard enforcement, with a marked increase in the number of complaints from the public.

“It’s something that needs to be totally encouraged. The council is heavily reliant on the community to report overgrown sections, particularly when people perceive a real threat to property,” Mr Field said.

With the exceptional summer set to continue for at least another two months, it was imperative that people did not hesitate to either clear their properties or report properties of concern.

“The conditions are already taking a toll, particularly on our volunteer brigades who have already had to deal with numerous accidental burns,” Mr Bailey said.

With a total fire ban in place throughout the district, the only acceptable clearance option was to ‘cut and carry’.

“Any form of burning is completely out of the question,” Mr Bailey said.

People concerned about overgrown sections should report them to the council in the first instance.