Ruling kills New Year’s fireworks

Organisers of a Naseby New Year fireworks display that can claim roots in the 1880s say "bureaucracy" has led to its cancellation.

Co-organiser and Naseby crib owner Lindsay Robertson said he was informed by the Central Otago District Council this week a fire permit application for the event was declined.

"We are really bummed about it, to be frank. We don’t think we’ll be able to do it again."

Organisers had an "extensive safety plan" and had never had an incident in the past, he said.

"It’s just a shame that bureaucracy got in the way."

On the Otago Rural Fire Authority’s suggestion, the council recommended the event be held out of the town, 2km away from the Naseby Forest.

This inconvenience would lead to a major cut in attendees, whose donations ran the following year’s event, Mr Robertson said.

"Also, some of them will have been drinking, so you don’t want them driving."

The display was usually held in the town’s domain and would attract between 400 and 800 people, he said.

Historical records showed similar events occurring as early as the 1880s, although there were no records to indicate how frequent they had been since then.

"There has been one every year of the 25 years I’ve been coming here," Mr Robertson said.

In previous years organisers did not seek permission as "the rules didn’t seem to apply to fireworks", he said.

Council environment and planning manager Louise van der Voort said the council took the advice of the rural fire authority when declining the permit as it had no in-house technical personnel.

"As such, the only logical decision we can make is to heed the [rural fire authority’s] advice and refuse to issue the permit.

"In terms of previous events, times have changed and risk-mitigation is much more in the forefront of the minds of decision-makers."

Urban areas followed the restrictions of rural zones, meaning Naseby was now in a restricted fire season requiring permits.

Otago Rural Fire Authority principal rural fire officer Phil Marsh said Naseby was one of the higher risk areas in the region for people, properties, and forestry values.

"What we said is that in the rural fire district, we have a kilometre margin around forestry. If it was in the rural district we would have declined the permit.

"It would be an absolute tragedy if for the sake of letting off fireworks we had a fire in the forest there."

Fireworks were covered by the rules of fire seasons as they involved flames in the open air, he said.

A compromise was offered in a bid to find a solution.

"We don’t want to be people that stop people having fun. But we have a social responsibility to stop an emergency situation occurring."