A North Canterbury community group says it plans to take the regional council to court after a second tyre fire in three years sent toxic black smoke into the sky.
Emergency services were notified at 3.10pm on Friday of a tyre fire on Racecourse Rd, Amberley.
Fire crews are unable to use water or foam on the Amberley tyre fire for fear of contaminating the groundwater.
About 45 firefighters were working on the blaze, which was deemed contained by 5.15pm.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesman said nearby residents and those downwind of the fire should still keep their doors and windows closed.
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Bruce Gledhill co-founded community-led group Accountability Action in response to the lack of action by authorities.
He said Friday’s fire was a dreadfully sad indictment on so many players, particularly regional council Environment Canterbury (ECan).
For too long they have left this issue unresolved or even managed to minimise the risk of a large scale fire … by being the responsible party to the situation they are the accountable party.
The smoke could be seen from nearby towns, including Christchurch 45km away.
Accountability Action planned to lodge an application next week to take ECan to the Environment Court, he said.
Fenz said fire crews from Amberley, Waipara, Woodend, Waikari, Sefton, Rangiora and a command unit from Christchurch fought the blaze, which produced thick black smoke.
The smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from as far away as central Christchurch 45km away at its peak.
Fenz area commander Dave Berry said fire crews were unable to use water or foam for fear of contaminating the groundwater, so the only option was to let it burn down, then separate the pile with a digger and bury the tyres.
Thousands of tyres left in an Amberley yard for years have been ignited in a second fire in the yard in three years.
With a scrub fire you can attack it with helicopters, but not with this.
Berry said the main message for the community was to stay indoors and keep windows closed.
He did not put a figure on the number of tyres but said it was quite a few thousand.
29012021 CHRIS SKELTON Fire fighters can only stand by and watch after a pile of tyres illegally stockpiled on racecourse rd, Amberley, has caught fire for for the second time in less than three years.
The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) also issued a public warning about the fire and how the burning tyres were producing sulphur dioxide.
The public warning said sulphur dioxide could cause respiratory problems, such as bronchitis, and irritate a persons nose, throat and lungs.
The massive tyre pile has been the subject of enforcement proceedings since 2016. It has still not been removed.
Amberley resident Colleen Johnson said she was utterly appalled that it has come to this.
The inaction by authorities beggars belief.
Two firefighters consider how to best tackle the blaze.
Hurunui mayor Marie Black said now was not the time to lay blame for how long it had taken to deal with the tyres.
Im really saddened [by the fire] its a major issue for our community and it has been for some time.
ECan zone manager northern Andrew Arps said the regional council sent staff to the site as soon as it was notified about the fire.
Staff were supporting Fenz in regard to how the environmental effects of the fire could be mitigated.
The Amberley tyre fire as seen from Waipara, about 12 kilometres away.
ECans immediate focus was to support Fenz and Canterbury Public Health, and it would continue to monitor the fire and its environmental effects, he said.
The cause of the fire was not yet known, but smoke was likely to be an issue over the next 24 hours.
A digger was on site on Friday evening to start separating the piles of burning tyres.
ECan chief executive Stefanie Rixecker said the regional council was doing all we can to ensure that anyone found responsible is held accountable.
We know the community will be outraged at this latest development, and we share that frustration, she said.
We have been working with the landowner to develop an acceptable disposal programme and were within a few weeks of a resolution when this incident occurred.
Last year, Amberley homeowner Gary Robert Grimmer, 62, was sentenced to nine months supervision by the Christchurch District Court after admitting he set fire to the pile in February 2018.
Grimmers offending was the culmination of a lengthy and fruitless battle to get the pile removed from the yard across from his house.
More than 10 fire crews are battling the tyre fire on Racecourse Rd, Amberley, on Friday afternoon.
The yard housed two tyre piles: one with about 400,000 tyres and a smaller one with about 20,000 tyres. Grimmer set fire to the smaller pile.
The problems had started in February 2016 when Michael Le Roy, the lessee of the yard, started storing tyres there.
The company involved later changed its name to Annexure Tyre Services Ltd, and Peter George Benden became its sole director.
In December, Benden was fined $36,000 by the Environment Court for contravening a court order by not removing the tyres.
He was also ordered to pay $20,000 towards ECan expenses to have the tyres removed.
Between 120,000 and 160,000 tyres still remained at the Amberley yard. ECan intended to have the tyres moved to a chipping facility, and the tyre chips would then be transported to a cement company.