{"id":227337,"date":"2026-01-10T22:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227337\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T22:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:35:08","slug":"bay-of-plenty-fire-owners-plea-after-te-puna-citrus-tree-nursery-blaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227337\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay of Plenty fire: Owner\u2019s plea after Te Puna citrus tree nursery blaze"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their property was one of up to 10 evacuated as the fire advanced. <\/p>\n

\"SharonSharon and Grant Tennet, the owners of Copperfield Nurseries in Snodgrass Rd in Te Puna, assessing some of their damaged citrus trees after a scrub fire on November 20, 2024. Photo \/ Sandra Conchie<\/p>\n

Extensive damage to shelter belts, young trees<\/p>\n

The blaze destroyed two major shelter belts and severely scorched large numbers of citrus rootstocks, and citrus plants near a barberry hedge on the southern boundary line were burned or severely scorched.<\/p>\n

More than 300m of the hedge was removed and replaced with a double\u2011clothed artificial shelter belt.<\/p>\n

Grant Tennet said the replacement was delayed until June last year to allow a neighbour to complete their kiwifruit harvest, and the cost for their half of the replacement was $130,000.<\/p>\n

Contractors later removed and mulched the burnt hedge before installing 6m poles and erecting a double-faced white cloth barrier to prevent Hi-Cane kiwifruit spray drift from damaging their trees.<\/p>\n

\"ShelterShelter belts, parent citrus trees and rootstock plant growing on the Copperfield Nurseries property on Snodgrass Rd in Te Puna was severely impacted by a large scrub fire which began on November 20, 2024. Photo \/ Sandra Conchie<\/p>\n

They also lost a lot of rootstock plants that would have been ready for grafting last December. <\/p>\n

Internal shelter belts also suffered \u201cbig pockets of burn\u201d, and up to 100m of Japanese cedar hedge at the lower end of the property was destroyed.<\/p>\n

All of it had to be cut out and replaced \u2014 a \u201cmassive job\u201d, Grant said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also lost quite a few younger trees expected to be ready for sale next winter, and the trees we\u2019ve replanted to replace them won\u2019t be fully grown until winter 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant was still unsure whether some severely scorched parent trees would ever recover, but says their losses could have been much worse.<\/p>\n

\"SharonSharon and Grant Tennet alongside a fire-damaged shelter belt on their Snodgrass Rd, Te Puna citrus tree nurseries property. Photo \/ Sandra Conchie<\/p>\n

Months of cleanup, community support<\/p>\n

For months after the blaze, the Tennets, their son William and staff worked to remove dead plants and clear debris. <\/p>\n

Neighbours were a \u201csignificant help\u201d, including one who offered access to a rubbish pit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, our home and none of the outbuildings sustained damage,\u201d Grant said. <\/p>\n

He added that the total compensation amounts were confidential, although damage to neighbouring properties was likely to be \u201chundreds of thousands of dollars\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018They are my heroes\u2019<\/p>\n

Sharen Tennet said she remained deeply thankful to the \u201cwonderful\u201d firefighters and emergency crews who spent hours at their property.<\/p>\n

She was especially grateful that her son William and a worker survived the thick smoke as they fought to stop the fire from reaching the family home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are my heroes,\u201d she said. \u201cOur son William is my absolute hero, as he refused to leave the property and worked tirelessly to save our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Copperfield Nurseries owners Sharon and Grant Tennet with some of their new citrus trees, just over one year after a huge blaze damaged their Te Puna property. Photo \/ Sandra Conchie<\/p>\n

Message to the community<\/p>\n

The Tennets said the fire had changed how they approached even small burns on their land.<\/p>\n

Grant said they were now \u201cextra cautious\u201d before lighting any fire, including simple rubbish burns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is our message and plea to the community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need people to do the right thing and never leave a fire unattended, as it can quickly get out of control and cause huge losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire investigation <\/p>\n

\"FireFire and Emergency NZ Bay of Plenty district manager Jeff Maunder. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Maunder said the blaze occurred during an open fire season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not prosecute. Any prosecution would depend on the circumstances of the fire, the fire season at the time and whether there was deliberate non-compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRegulatory compliance forms part of our risk reduction work and is primarily aimed at assisting in keeping our communities and the things they value safe from fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maunder said anyone who lit a fire without a permit or caused a fire to get out of control and spread could be liable upon conviction to two years in prison or a fine of up to $300,000, or both.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of a company breaching the act, the fine may be up to $600,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire and Emergency NZ\u2019s safety advice<\/p>\n

Plan and prepare burn sites carefully and always monitor fires.Even during open fire seasons, also check Fire and Emergency NZ\u2019s website first.Check weather conditions, and have a reliable method of extinguishing a fire.If a fire is visible to neighbours or passers-by, notify them and Fire and Emergency NZ.When a fire escapes, call 111 immediately.<\/p>\n

Sandra Conchie<\/a> is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional\/community reporter of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Their property was one of up to 10 evacuated as the fire advanced. Sharon and Grant Tennet, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,1561,4996,135686,2079,111,43,139,34311,69,1118,9769,46728,1562,110589,8690,15981],"class_list":["post-227337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-bay","tag-blaze","tag-citrus","tag-fire","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nursery","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-owners","tag-plea","tag-plenty","tag-puna","tag-te","tag-tree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227337","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=227337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}