Hundreds of revellers attended a party on Castle St last
night. Photo by Jane Dawber.
Three couch fires in just over 30 minutes in Dunedin's
student area tied up emergency services staff last night.
The Fire Service was called to put out couch fires at 5.50pm,
6.05pm and 6.30pm at a "large block party" on Castle St,
Willowbank senior station officer Rob Torrance said.
"The crowd were good-natured but it does tie up our resources
as we are a rescue pump, and may be called to an accident on
the Northern Motorway at any time."
The couches were mostly made of polyurethane, and fighting a
couch fire was equivalent to dealing with 25 litres of
petrol, requiring a high-pressure hose to extinguish, he
said.
The Willowbank crew was called to two further Castle St fires
shortly after 9pm, and another couch fire at 10pm.
Senior Sergeant Craig Brown said the party attracted hundreds
of largely good-natured revellers, many of whom were in
costumes, with police making three arrests.
Police arrested two 20-year-old female University of Otago
students for disorderly behaviour, one of whom for climbing
on top of a fire appliance.
A 21-year-old University of Canterbury student was also
arrested for disorderly behaviour after damaging a car, Snr
Sgt Brown said.
The trio were likely to appear in the Dunedin District Court
next week.
hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.