![\"(Ian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JV65ON_652400747_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nFire risk at Wither Hills Farm Park has been floating between moderate and high, but with high temperatures forecast, that could change rapidly.
\nPhoto: Ian Allen\/Marlborough Express\n<\/p>\n
Temperatures in the 30s this week could tip Blenheim’s Wither Hills Farm Park into a closure as the risk of fire in the tinder-dry grass climbs.<\/p>\n
MetService has forecast 33C for Friday, 31C for Saturday, and 30C for Sunday as a westerly flow brings scorching heat across the South Island.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency NZ top of the south community risk manager Steve Trigg said the Wither Hills Farm Park, popular with walkers and cyclists, would dry out a lot over the next few days.<\/p>\n
The drying out and browning of the grass, known as curing, had been slowed by rain around the start of the year, leaving it with a “green tinge”, but that delay wouldn’t last long, Trigg said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t really get a lot better, no matter how much rain we have, because it’s still very dry, and under the ground it’s dry as well.<\/p>\n
“It’s always highly likely that we will be talking to the council about closing the park, but I can’t tell you when.”<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency NZ regularly monitored fire risk at Wither Hills, but the decision to close the park lay with Marlborough District Council.<\/p>\n
Trigg said Wither Hills was an “extremely volatile” area, and that closing it during peak fire season was the safest thing to do.<\/p>\n
![\"(Braden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JV65ON_650194924_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n
Photo: Braden Frastier\/Nelson Mail\n<\/p>\n
“We have to think about how can we be most effective as an organisation if we have to respond [to a fire]. And you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that our job’s going to be a lot easier if people aren’t in the park,” he said.<\/p>\n
A council spokesperson said the council checked Fire and Emergency NZ fire indices daily during summer, and consulted with Fire and Emergency NZ directly when the risk became extreme.<\/p>\n
“Any decision to close Wither Hills Farm Park is based on the indices, the fuel loadings, and the weather forecast,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“At this stage, the cooler temperatures and rain have kept the indices between medium and high. However, with forecast temperatures this week and no rain, that can change rapidly.”<\/p>\n
Trigg said monitoring grass curing was important because grass was the easiest ignition fuel in the South Marlborough fire district, which covered everything south of the Wairau River.<\/p>\n
“Grassland [are] easy to ignite and fast to run. So it’s really important that the community is really well prepared for grassland fire in South Marlborough,” Trigg said.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency also monitored conditions at places with larger fuel sources, such as conservation land and forestry, Trigg said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got probably close to 200,000 hectares of forestry in the top of the south. And forestry burns [are] a lot more volatile, just because of the way it’s planted and the type of trees, than native forest.”<\/p>\n
South Marlborough was currently in a restricted fire season, meaning permits were required, but north of the Wairau River was still in an open fire season.<\/p>\n
Trigg said anyone thinking about lighting a fire should check the fire conditions at www.checkitsalright.nz or the Fire Indices Map.<\/p>\n
The Check It’s Alright website also gave advice about activities that could inadvertently spark a fire, such as using machinery or mowing the lawn.<\/p>\n
“You want to light a bonfire? You want to burn some rubbish at home? It’ll tell you whether you can or can’t, based on our fire season.<\/p>\n
“There’s information about pets and what to do, and how you prepare your home and how you prepare yourself for evacuation,” he said.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fire risk at Wither Hills Farm Park has been floating between moderate and high, but with high temperatures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-220918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}