
On Tuesday afternoon smoke blanketed the Whakatipu, including Arrowtown, stemming from two separate, permitted, burnoffs — one at Fairlight, which comes under the Southland District Council, and the other at Halfway Bay, roughly opposite Jack’s Point.
Winds pushed the smoke along Lake Whakatipu, to Queenstown.
While Otago Regional Council monitors air data, there is no analysed air data from Tuesday afternoon available yet.
However, ORC compliance manager Carlo Bell says there were six complaints to the regional council’s pollution hotline that afternoon, all of which appear to relate to those fires, with a "large smoke haze" reported around Queenstown.
The fires have prompted ORC to remind rural and "peri-urban" communities to prepare carefully for any intended burnoffs, given the "tinder-dry" conditions in many parts of inland Otago, posing a heightened fire risk.
Bell says they’re urging people to check weather forecasts and take "great care" around any permitted or lawful property burnoffs they have planned.
Queenstown Lakes is a restricted zone, so burnoffs can only occur with a permit from Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz).
Central Otago — where there was a vegetation fire on Tuesday afternoon, which burnt about 2 hectares of land near Cromwell’s Mt Pisa — has been under a restricted fire season since December 16, so no burning is currently permitted.
Bell says the MetService forecast for the next week only has a few isolated showers forecast around the Central Lakes.
"This should remind people to be extra-careful around all outdoor fires, be it burnoffs or smaller outdoor fires, and when using machinery in dry areas, such as mowers or farm machinery."
People need to check the fire season status for their part of Otago, have any permits from Fenz, and meet ORC's rules, he says.
Tips for better burning
Otago Regional Council’s urging anyone planning a permitted burn to follow this list as they make their plan:
- Burn as far from the property boundary as possible
- Check winds are predicted to be away from built-up areas for the fire’s duration
- Postpone lighting a fire if there’s already smoke in the air from others
- Make smaller fires
- Use dry fuel and stack it loosely
- Don’t let the fire smoulder
- Avoid burning early morning and late afternoon/evening
- Avoid burning when there’s an inversion layer
- Be prepared to extinguish the fire if conditions change
- Ensure burning on the property’s permitted under the Air Plan
- Check fire season status and have Fire and Emergency New Zealand permission as needed
For further info, visit checkitsalright.nz