This page is not a current Christchurch City Council document. Please read our disclaimer.
City Scene - Christchurch City Council Newsletter - March 1996
The Bottle Lake plantation fire last month was the biggest fire Christchurch City Council's Parks Unit, which is the rural firefighting authority, has ever had to cope with. It stretched resources to the limit and along with other fires, led to a Canterbury-wide ban on outside fires.
The Fire Service's national coordinator was brought in and a management team was set up with the task of allocating resources during large, multiple fires.
Outside rubbish fires are usually permitted in Christchurch in March, April, September and October unless the City Council or Canterbury Regional Council bans them due to unseasonable dry weather or air pollution. Bans are notified throughout the news media but if you're in doubt you should contact those authorities.
Outside fires, or fires in the open, are always banned from November to February - summer months - by Christchurch City Council, and often banned in March and April. Outside fires are also always banned from May to August, by the Regional Council, when Christchurch gets smoggy.