Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff are visiting Canterbury property owners whose burn-offs caused fires during hot and windy conditions on 20 June.
Eleven burn-piles spread into fires during strong nor-westerly winds, requiring a response that stretched firefighters to levels normally only seen in mid-summer. MetService had issued an orange strong wind warning for Canterbury Plains, Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.
FENZ district commander Dave Stackhouse said the winds were well forecast and should not have caught anyone by surprise. Landowners who allow fires to escape control face fines up to $300,000 or imprisonment up to two years.