New Plymouth fire damage could cost ratepayers thousands

A discarded cigarette butt is thought to have caused a scrub fire that tore through the New Plymouth coastline, destroying about 1000 plants and a decade's worth of volunteer work.

The local district council says the blaze, north of Te Rewa Rewa Bridge early this morning, took firefighters an hour to contain and left the habitat of nesting seabirds - like the endangered native dotterel - blackened and smouldering.

New Plymouth District Council external relations manager Jacqueline Baker said a moment's carelessness would cost ratepayers about $20,000.

"Firefighters did a fantastic job containing the blaze but this is massively disappointing, especially for the volunteers and tamariki who put in the hard mahi over the last decade to protect and enhance this fragile sand dune environment by planting thousands of native plants in the Living Legends area, and it's a stark reminder of how careful we need to be in this dry, hot weather."

Baker said new planting could begin this autumn, depending on finances and other logistics.

But it would take another seven years for the new plants to become fully established, she said.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand are investigating the fire, which spanned a few hundred square metres.