Fire-ban report corrected

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 17

Fire-ban report corrected

A report to the Waimairi County Council at its meeting last week about imposing fire bans in Canterbury contained some errors, said the Conservator of Forests (Mr J, W. Levy). The report, by the council's chief health inspector, and quoted in “The Press” of February 13, had said that the readings governing the imposing of a fire ban were taken from the Omihi State forest.

“In fact, readings are t taken from the Eyrewell k forest, on the north bank * of the Waimakariri River, s about 16 miles from the :l centre of Christchurch, !_ and not from Omihi,” Mr Levy said. ’ “The readings do not refer to the Beaufort i- scale, as in the report to ■, the council, which is a ” scale of "Wind force but to d a fire danger scale,” he said. e The fire danger reading e was calculated using the following main factors:

temperature, wind force and direction according to the Beaufort scale, the number of days since rain, and relative humidity. The fire hazard scale ranged from one to 10, but occasionally extreme conditions could take the reading above 10. Readings were taken at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., daily. “The fire-danger rating is then passed to the Christchurch Metropolitan Fire Brigade, which takes an average reading for the week. If the average read-

ing exceeds 6.5 on the scale, the local counties are informed by the Fire Seivice. The counties then impose a ban on fires in the open,” Mr Levy said.

A total ban could be imposed by the Forest Service, which ban would override any conditions imposed by other authorities. Such a ban was imposed only when extreme conditions existed and was for a 24-hour period. It could be reimposed if necessary.