Martin van Beynen/Stuff
The Port Hills fire of February 2017. Council should instal CCTV cameras on Port Hil;ls accce4ss roads to track suspicious vehicles, argues Mike Yardley.
OPINION: As a hill-dweller in Huntsbury, memories of the devastating 2017 Port Hills fires still run raw. Like most hill residents, the reports of a spate of suspicious fires being lit last Wednesday fast rekindled that shared sense of dread, fear and “not again”.
Saturday morning’s dramatic scrub fire on Hillsborough has only compounded the heightened sense of unease. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) got a spectacularly lucky break that Friday’s howling westerlies weren’t ripping through the early hours of Saturday. Bravo to Fenz for knocking out that fire so effectively, without the loss of any homes.