Teens caught following attempted MAZ arson

JULIA WADE

31 Jan, 2022

Three youths who were caught red-handed on CCTV recently, attempting to ignite Mangawhai’s favourite play area, have been identified and are now facing the consequences through New Zealand’s legal system.

Wellsford Sergeant Rainier Coetzee confirmed on January 20 the trio of male teenagers, aged 15-17 years, are now being dealt with via the Youth Aid process in line with the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. Due to the offenders’ age however, police are not able to comment further.

On January 12 the youths tried setting fire to a plastic playground at Mangawhai Activity Zone (MAZ) which is currently surrounded by tinder-dry foliage. Fortunately, their efforts were foiled by Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade (MVFB) trainees who raised the alarm, however if the culprits had succeeded, the result had the potential to be disastrous MVFB chief fire officer Rob Leslie says.

“The consequences of lighting fires around a built-up area can be far reaching, as seen by the 2500 hectare fire north of Kaitaia. We will lose houses to vegetation fires around Mangawhai if these arson attacks are not stopped,” he says. “The brigade was still on summer break from training but we had three of our recruit firefighters going on the recruits course starting January 15 and they, along with a couple of firefighters who were helping to train them, were on station at the time of the arson attempt purely by chance.”

Smelling smoke, one of the new recruits spotted the glow of a fire at MAZ around 10pm and immediately informed Leslie, who confirmed the course of action for the trainees – first set off the Firecom alarm and put the fire out, ‘which they did quickly and efficiently’.

“I think the three fire-lighters scarpered when they heard the siren. The quick action saved any damage to the playground and certainly saved a potentially devastating fire to the dry vegetation between MAZ and the golf course,” Leslie says. “As can be seen around the area the vegetation is becoming very dry and available to burn with a very small ignition source. People need to be careful when lighting any fire, including braziers, as this could lead to large wildfires around the area. We will be going into a prohibited fire season soon so if any fire is noticed call it in to 111 before it gets out of control.”

Children play happily at Mangawhai Activity Zone a day after the arson attempt, unaware it could have been ground zero to a potential fiery disaster. PHOTO/JULIA WADE

“The quick action saved any damage to the playground and certainly saved a potentially devastating fire to the dry vegetation…”