Lincoln man's bath time sparks blaze

A Lincoln man's plan for an outdoor bath went awry last week when he sparked a large grass fire during a total fire ban.

Firefighters were called to a Hudsons Rd property at about 4.30pm last Sunday to put out a 200 sq m grass fire.

Chief fire officer Kevin Greene said a man had lit an "unlawful fire" to heat the water in his outdoor bathtub.

However the fire got out of control.

Selwyn District Council principal rural fire officer Wilson Brown said after investigating the incident he had decided the man would not be fined for his actions.

"You have to work out whether it's one of those silly things where they just didn't think about what they were doing," he said.

"The total fire ban means you can't light fires at all."

"It was just one of those things that happen, he was told off and we've moved on," Mr Brown said.

He told the Selwyn Times last week if any action was taken to reprimand the man, it would probably be to invoice him for the time the Fire Service spent attending the blaze.

People could be billed between $200 and $300 an hour per vehicle called to an incident, said Mr Brown.

However, firefighters weren't at Hudsons Rd long enough to drum up much of a bill.

He said it was more of an inconvenience to the volunteer firefighters than a matter of the cost of using the vehicles.

"It's taking them away from their Sunday afternoon," said Mr Brown.

The fire was extinguished quickly with no problems.