Christel Yardley/Stuff
Firefighters believe a fire on Himatangi beach was deliberately lit.
Firefighters are grateful for the calm weather that prevented the spread of a large fireplace in Manawatū.
Emergency services were called to a fireplace on Himatangi beach around 8.15 am on Sunday, with one fire truck present.
Wayne Dear, the volunteer fire chief for Himatangi Beach, said the fire was likely deliberately lit overnight for a while.
“If it was windy, it could have endangered homes. It’s quite a serious one.”
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The fire was located not far from the beach entrance to the township, a few hundred yards south toward Foxton Beach.
Dear said the fire was in a large bunch of logs, hard against a wooden fence, at the bottom of the sand dunes.
“On the other side of it is the new planting that borders the houses. Good luck.”
The fire brigade was on the scene until about 9:30 a.m.
There were no signs that anyone was barbecuing nearby, he said.
“Hopefully it was a one-off. It had the potential to be very serious.”
The road from the township to the beach runs along a stream and the stream eats away at the beach entrance.
It was fortunate that the Manawatū County Council had recently built a track for service vehicles, otherwise the fire truck would have had to drive through Foxton Beach.