Greymouth Volunteer firefighters battle a beach blaze on Blaketown Beach on Wednesday 11 January, thought to have been started by an arsonist. Photo: Greymouth Star/Laura Mills
Exhausted and frustrated Greymouth firefighters are praying for respite after more deliberately lit fires in the town last night kept them from their beds for several hours.
While some relief arrived this morning, Fire and Emergency NZ said the 15 to 20mm of rain might not be enough to counter the tinder dry conditions across the region -- and with a suspected arsonist at work.
"This rain will help a little bit but not much," Greymouth fire chief Lee Swinburn said.
FENZ today extended the restricted fire season into Westland district, joining the ban imposed last week on Grey and Buller districts.
West Coast police urged residents who notice any suspicious behaviour to notify them immediately as they try to 'smoke out' the firebug, with four suspicious fires this week alone.
The calls last night were "straight out arsons", Swinburn said.
"They have been deliberately lit ... totally unnecessary."
The first call was at 7.30pm to John Sturgeon Park, where a rubbish skip had been set alight. Then at 10.30pm a blaze erupted in bush along Watson Creek, Karoro, where someone had torched the bone-dry scrub behind the foreshore.
A large area of bush was burnt and it took four Greymouth fire crews with over 20 firefighters to bring it under control, Swinburn said.
"That is a suspicious arson. That fire started in the bush, not on the beach."
Volunteers finally left the scene at 1.15am.
It capped off weeks of local fire volunteers being stretched to their limits, including seven beach fires in the past month alone.
On Wednesday, 23 volunteer firefighters and a helicopter with monsoon bucket spent hours quelling a suspicious fire on the beach at Blaketown in 28 degree heat. That night they were also called to a suspicious fence fire in the same area.
"The last couple of weeks we're just tying up a lot of resources and a lot of man hours, and we would like to get a break from it," Swinburn said.
"We'd like to enjoy the summer ourselves."
Greymouth police senior sergeant Brent Cook confirmed the CIB was investigating the latest fires.
Police were keeping an open mind but said the perpetrators were probably "a group of idiots" and in response police would be implementing extra measures.
This included stepping up patrols in and around the main area of interest, the West Coast Wilderness Cycle Trail behind the beach area.
At the same time locals using the Wilderness Trail and beach needed to promptly report any strange behaviour by an individual or a group seen in that area.
"We believe it's a group wandering around the town but also maybe up and down the cycle track ... Please give us a prompt call."
Greymouth Mayor Tania Gibson today described the fires as "pure stupidity" that were putting lives and property at risk.
Deliberately lighting a skip bin at the rugby park in the middle of a residential area was particularly "bloody madness".
"It could have quite easily taken off and people got hurt."
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