28 Feb 2018

Tyre pile fire treated as suspicious

12:57 pm on 28 February 2018

A fire in a pile of tyres in North Canterbury - which started on Monday night and is only being extinguished by being smothered in clay - is being treated as suspicious.

The tyres needed to be covered in clay to fully extinguish the fire.

The tyres needed to be covered in clay to fully extinguish the fire. Photo: RNZ / Conan Young

The blaze was in a smaller stack of truck tyres just metres away from a huge pile of an estimated 600,000 tyres that had been dumped in a paddock near Amberley.

The North Canterbury tyre fire threatened to spread to another huge pile of tyres nearby.

The North Canterbury tyre fire threatened to spread to another huge pile of tyres nearby. Photo: Hurunui District Council

The fire was now under control and excavators were covering it in a layer of clay to extinguish it completely.

Police said the fire was deliberately lit and their inquiries were continuing.

A spokesperson for the land owner said the tyres were owned by a former tenant who had not paid any rent for the land for 12 months.

They said despite the tyres having long been identified as a potential fire risk, their hands were tied when it came to who should remove them, because they did not own them.

The North Canterbury tyre fire at its height.

The North Canterbury tyre fire at its height. Photo: Hurunui District Council