Police and firefighters are hunting down multiple arsonists in Hawke's Bay after a string of suspicious fires throughout the region.
Yesterday's scrub blaze on Bruno Chambers' farm is the eighth under investigation by emergency services in the past two weeks.
He's been hit twice during that time, taking it upon himself to stop the most recent blaze in its tracks by running over it in his ute.
“I managed to put out most of the fire, running up and down with the utility [vehicle] and then with a few items of clothing from the front of the truck.”
After a good amount of Spring growth last year, Chambers says the now long brown grass is acting as an accelerant more so than previous years.
He's worried what might happen to both surrounding homes as well as livestock if the string of intentionally lit fires continue.
“It’s absolutely lunacy, and it should be… I hope the police catch these guys.”
There have been eight suspicious blazes in just two weeks. (Source: Other)
With a lack of decent rainfall, the region is quickly becoming exceptionally dry, causing further worries about what could happen with these fires being deliberately started.
"We are into the peak of our summer period and you know hills are pretty dry, our forests are pretty dry, so yeah it's concerning," says Rural Fire Officer Trevor Mitchell.
The region's intentionally introduced a prohibited fire restriction during the summer in an effort to reduce the risk of preventable fires event without the concern of arson.
Mitchell says the firebugs unnecessarily lighting up fires are just adding to the problem that the hot dry weather brings.
"We have a fire prohibition in place to try and alleviate the problem so we don't really need people doing stupid things!"
Fire fighters are tackling another Hawke's Bay blaze this afternoon, with a grass fire enveloping five acres of land near State Highway 2 in Takapau Central.
Five fire trucks, two tankers, two helicopters and other support vehicles are currently at the scene.
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