Dunedin has a new export - couch fires.
Almost non-existent in Christchurch a few years ago, dozens of couch fires have been dealt with this year by the city's fire service, and copycat students may be to blame.
Christchurch City station Deputy Chief Fire Officer Greg Crawford said many of the couch fires were in the Riccarton area. This was home to a large student population, which appeared to be copying its southern student counterparts.
"We had a handful of these type of fires a few years back. Now we have had around 50 to 70 this year alone," he said.
Despite student-related couch fires in the North Dunedin area decreasing by almost a third this year, it appeared Canterbury students were "picking up where [Otago] guys left off", Mr Crawford said.
The Fire Service recorded 137 outdoors rubbish, couch and bonfires in the student area of North Dunedin for the year ending November 16, compared with an average of 220 incidents a year for the previous five years.
Mr Crawford said the fire service was working closely with University of Canterbury to tackle the issue.
"They have a zero tolerance for this sort of stuff."
Couch fires tied up fire service resources, he said.
A University of Canterbury spokesman said the tertiary provider had been "made aware of incidents as they have arisen".
In addition to a new community relations group being established, the campus constable visited flats identified as of concern by neighbours, to see who lived there and which tertiary institution they attended.
If they were University of Canterbury students, the campus constable would refer them to the proctors who were responsible for disciplinary matters.
"The difficulty we have is identification of any offenders, which is why we encourage anyone with a complaint to report it to the police as soon as possible," the spokesman said.
