Pubdate: Mon, 28 Feb 2005
Source: Hawke's Bay Today (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005, Wilson & Horton
Contact:  http://mytown.co.nz/hawkesbay/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2947
Author: Doug Laing
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/New+Zealand (New Zealand)

DRUG LINK IN BIG BLAZE

A fire that destroyed part of a forest west of Napier yesterday could
be linked with cannabis growing in the area.

Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Reid, of Napier CIB, said a detective
had gone to the forest about an hour from Napier today to investigate
both the discovery of cannabis plants in the forest and the suspicious
nature of the fire, which was reported at 6.23 yesterday morning,
after a truck driver spotted the smoke from Puketitiri.

Mr Reid did not know how much cannabis had been found, but sources at
the fire scene yesterday said plants had been in several places.

The blaze burned about 8ha of a 400ha pine forest owned by absentee
American owners, the Yeatman Family Trust, and managed by Hawke's Bay
foresters P F Olsen and Co.

Mr Reid was not conjecturing about a cause for the fire off Huiarangi
Road, at least an hour by road from Napier, saying it would need to be
determined whether it could have started the previous day and
smouldered during the night before breaking out after dawn.

But Hastings District Council emergency management officer Paul Hawke
said that given the conditions of the morning, an "educated guess is
that it was not a natural cause". There had been an overnight dew, and
most fires in the current summer conditions of high fire danger in
Hawke's Bay did not happen until the hottest part of the day,
afternoon. Forest agent Bob Pocknall said there had been no work in
the forest in days before the blaze. He confirmed most forest owners
had problems from time to time with illicit drug growers, who usually
operated at night.

A helicopter with heat-seeking equipment flew over the blackened
forest off Huiarangi Road today, and ground crews were seeking
hotspots with hand-held gear.

Three helicopters battled the fire yesterday, with crews from seven
fire appliances and tankers, and had it under control within three
hours. Three crews of rural fire force volunteers remained in the
forest throughout the afternoon with forest crews, and new crews
stayed overnight.

Mr Hawke said fire management expected to hand the situation back to
the forest managers today. They would need to keep watch over the
property to ensure hot-spots were dealt with and there were no further
flare-ups. The costs of fighting the fire would be calculated over the
next few days, but Mr Hawke said: "We're already up over $40,000."

Damage had been minimised by the dew and lack of wind, but estimates
of the cost to the owners varied from $25,000 as the trees stood, to
$150,000 upon harvest.

The costs would normally be sought from anyone found responsible for
starting the fire, even if it was not deliberate.

The conditions created an eerie setting, in which a smoky haze spread
across the Hawke's Bay landscape, sparking reports of fires in other
areas, as far away as the Ashley Clinton area in Central Hawke's Bay.

Fire authorities investigated but deduced that the smoke reported in
the afternoon had come from the morning fire west of Napier.
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MAP posted-by: Derek