Heat turned up on couch fires

Police will take a hard line with those involved in lighting couch fires in the student quarter, after a spike in call-outs last month.

Police, the Fire Service, the University of Otago and the Otago Regional Council met to discuss recent couch fires and disorder in the North Dunedin area.

As a result of that meeting, police will no longer be offering diversion or pre-charge warnings to those found lighting fires in the area.

Instead, culprits ''will be off to court'', police tactical co-ordinator Sergeant Dave Scott, of Dunedin, said yesterday.

That decision was prompted by an incident in the student quarter last week, when two young men jumped off a fire engine which had been called to extinguish a couch fire.

The fire truck was also surrounded by a large group of revellers and bottles were thrown, prompting the Fire Service to call a meeting about the disorder.

Fire Service East Otago Area manager Laurence Vight said he called for the meeting after concerns for the ''safety and wellbeing not only of my personnel but also of those participating in these activities''.

At that meeting, all four organisations agreed to a ''zero-tolerance'' policy on such behaviour.

Statistics for the month of February had shown a gradual decline in couch fires in the campus area, with 10 in February 2010, but last month that number had increased to 32.

''Couch fires can be very dangerous. We have had incidents in the past where bystanders have been pushed into them and been seriously burned. There is also the possibility of the material involved setting fire to nearby property and that developing into a large-scale incident,'' he said.

''Another issue is that of the residual damage to our roads and amenities from these incidents.''

The two men who jumped off the Willowbank fire engine had been given a pre-charge warning by police and also referred to the proctor, Sgt Scott said.

However, from this week, anyone caught interfering with an emergency services vehicle would no longer be offered pre-charge warnings, and would instead be either given diversion or charged.

''We will treat it a lot more serious than it has been ... Historically, we would have used a pre-charge warning ... but we won't anymore.''

While it was often difficult to determine who lit fires or caused disorder during an emergency services call-out, after inquiries police were often able to find the culprits involved, Sgt Scott said.

The campus constable had charged some non-students for lighting fires in the campus area a couple of weeks ago, he said.

In addition, police patrols and Campus Watch were on the lookout for any signs of disorder.

''There are lots of eyes and ears out there.''

Sgt Scott stressed it was not just students who were involved in such activity, and he had a warning for anyone contemplating it.

''We want them to know if you set fire to something, you are going to pay a consequence and it won't just be a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket.''

He reminded residents of the area that ''it is not a rite of passage for students of Dunedin to come here and burn a sofa''.

University of Otago vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the university always treated such matters seriously ''and we will maintain our zero-tolerance policy with respect to fires''.

The university's annual discipline report shows 15 cases were referred to the vice-chancellor by the provost in 2012.

Of those cases, seven involved fire-related incidents.

''We will continue to be proactive, as will the police and Fire Service, because everyone's goal here is exactly the same, and that is to keep the students and the rest of the Dunedin community safe.''

- hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz