Bore benevolence to help fight fires

by Elaine Fisher

Two Katikati orcharding families hope their initiative to fight rural blazes will fire up other growers to do the same.

Kiwifruit growers Stephen Kenna and Phillipa Wright and avocado-growing neighbours Chris and Marian Graveson have spent around $500 purchasing and fitting a fire adaptor to their roadside bore so fire fighters can easily access it.

“We saw a need, after some historical house fires and recently a major shelter belt fire on a neighbour’s orchard, for a better water supply to assist Fire and Emergency water tankers to refill quickly,” Kenna said.

In August, he watched five trucks and crews waiting for tankers to supply water from a council fire hydrant to fight the shelter belt fire and decided it was time to act. He and Chris Graveson had previously discussed putting an adaptor on their 270m deep bore, which has 900 litres per minute flow.

They installed a standard, off the shelf irrigation fire adaptor from PSL Fire and Safety NZ which is compatible with the equipment used by emergency services and was easy to fit.

Kenna says the Bay of Plenty Regional Council supports this initiative and will not count any volume used in training or fire fighting against consented water allocations.

Graveson says the decision to make the adaption was an absolute no-brainer. “The question for us and other farmers and growers with bores is not ‘why would you do it?’ but ‘why wouldn’t you do it?’ You could potentially help save your neighbour’s property but it could just as easily be yours which is threatened by fire, especially given how far fires can spread if it’s windy. People have traditionally thought of swimming pools as a water source but overlooked the potential of bores.”

Paul Tucker of Fire and Emergency NZ and fire chief for Mayor View Volunteer Fire Brigade at Waihi Beach was consulted about the project and with wife Deryn, also of the brigade, tested the system by simply plugging in and turning on a switch to quickly fill a tanker.

Key to the success of similar projects in future will be bore owners working with their local brigades and providing GPS coordinates for the location of their bores.

Kenna says the single council water main in Ongare Point Rd, where his orchard is, does not have the ability to refill as fast as needed for a major event and in some cases there is a long distance to the next available take off.

Kenna pointed out that the high fuel loading of shelter trees hundreds of metres long, often in remote, difficult to access areas, is a high fire risk factor.

“A simple spark can expand, given the right conditions. Lightning strikes, as well as vehicle fires, can start a blaze even in wet weather.”

The adaptor fitted the bore servicing two Ongare Point orchards is compatible with the equipment used by emergency services.

Purchasing and fitting this adaptor to the roadside bore so fire fighters can easily access it cost around $500.

Deryn Tucker, operations support, Mayor View Volunteer Fire Brigade at Waihi Beach tested the system installed on the privately owned Ongare Point bore head.