Te Tai Tokerau Northland will move into a restricted fire season from 8am on Friday 10 January 2025 until further notice.

A restricted fire season means anyone who wants to light an outdoor fire will need a fire permit authorised by Fire and Emergency, which can be applied for at checkitsalright.nz.

Northland District Manager Wipari Henwood says very little or no rain is predicted in the region for the next 10 days, with strong southwest winds continuing.

"Grass is drying out and forecast spike days - where fire risk rises sharply - increase the difficulty of controlling fires quickly once they have started," he says.

"As we have seen with recent fires, it takes a large number of our fire brigades, many of them volunteers, with supporting resources and aircraft to contain and control wildfires in Northland."

Large wildfires such as the Waiharara fire in 2021/22 and near Cape Reinga in 2023 required huge resources to combat and control.

"It took eight days to extinguish the Cape Reinga fire at a cost of more than $1.5m, while the Waiharara fire burnt for 50 days at a cost of more than $10m," Wipari Henwood says.

"It’s these sorts of fires which we are trying to avoid by implementing a restricted fire season now."

The restricted fire season covers all of Te Tai Tokerau Northland including Muriwhenua, where a restricted fire season is already in place.

All Department of Conservation land on islands in Northland remain in a prohibited fire season, which means all outdoor fires are banned.

© Scoop Media