Two grass fires in quick succession yesterday brought home the message about the high fire risk in Central Otago.
Much of the district is tinder dry after more than a month without rain, and a succession of grass fires during the past week have kept firefighters busy.
Fire crews from Cromwell, Luggate, Tarras and Alexandra were involved in yesterday's callouts.
Firefighters spent about five hours battling a blaze and dampening down hot spots from 12.30pm, on the slope of a scrubby gully on the lower part of the Pisa Range, north of Cromwell.
Two Cromwell Volunteer Fire Brigade appliances attended, as well as an appliance and tanker from Luggate, a tanker from Tarras, and a Dunstan rural fire appliance.
Central Otago Principal Rural Fire Officer Owen Burgess said it was thought a spark from a lawn mower, most likely when it struck a rock, ignited the fire.
About 1ha of scrub was blackened on the private property among vineyard blocks.
Mr Burgess said people needed to be careful when mowing lawns.
They should mow "first thing" in the morning and have water on hand, he said.
"Most of the time this happens in rural areas which take appliances a long time to get to. People need to have water on hand because by the time they realise they have a fire it's too late unless they can put it out before it spreads."
The fire risk was growing by the day, he said.
A "prohibited" fire season will take effect from Saturday.
Alexandra firefighters were called to a minor grass fire at Springvale, 7km from Alexandra.
"There was a heap of cut grass there though, so maybe it self-combusted as the grass heated up," Station Officer John Mawhinney said.
"With the strong northwest winds fanning it, we were nervous it might spread quickly."
If the dry spell continues, the Central Otago District Council may consider tougher water restrictions.
Water consumption by residents has increased dramatically this month.
Monitoring of the nine town water supplies within the district showed water use was well down in October, but this month was a different story, council utility service manager Peter Greenwood said.
Consumption was almost at the maximum for this time of year.
"If it carries on the way it's heading, we'll start getting worried in two or three weeks."
Mr Greenwood said it was too early to "push the panic button" yet and he was hopeful some rain would ease the situation.
"However, if it carries on at this rate, we'll need to look at much tougher water restrictions than the current hosing restrictions, but it's completely dependent on the weather."
He declined to elaborate on what measures the council might consider.
Hosing restrictions take effect from the start of December, with residents of Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell, Bannockburn, Omakau, Ophir, Naseby, Ranfurly and Patearoa asked to irrigate their properties on alternate days to conserve water.
These voluntary restrictions have been in place during summer for the past five years.
