Be careful not to start fires accidentally and don’t waste water on the gardens are two messages being promoted by Christchurch City Council this summer
Canterbury’s warm dry weather has contributed to a high fire risk, so Christchurch City Council is urging residents to be careful not to take unnecessary risks. Things that could cause problems are fireworks, lawn-mowing on hot windy days, using power tools that spark and discarding cigarettes without extinguishing them fully.
Regularly cutting the grass, trimming overhanging trees and removing excess vegetation is the best defence against the spread of fire.
If you do cause a fire that fire services respond to you could be charged for the costs of putting the fire out.
The hot days have put pressure on the city’s water supply and the council wants residents to refrain from watering gardens and lawns on hot days.
The restrictions on watering to set days last year has not been required this summer. Over the past year SCIRT has replaced 20 kilometres of freshwater piping, enough to stretch from Cathedral Square to Kaiapoi, and built three new water reservoirs in Huntsbury Hill and Victoria Park, while New Brighton’s new fresh water station in Rawhiti Domain is now pumping water to residents from three new wells.
