The Teimurimotia Volunteer Fire Brigade has responded to five fire incidents on the island within two weeks, amid low water pressure that raises concerns for the brigade.

Teimurimotia fire chief, Alistair Macquarie confirmed in an interview with Cook Islands News that they responded to two fire incidents in Muri and one each in Kiikii, Matavera and Turangi this and last week.

Macquarie stated that the fire incidents have required a significant amount of water to be used.

He said this was also affecting their ability to cart water to families, especially those living in higher ground, who were without water due to the current low water pressure.

“(Water supply to families which Teimurimotia is trying to limit) also coincides sometimes with fires. We had a fire yesterday (Thursday) where we had to go to our village for a fire after we were delivering a load of water on a small truck,” Macquarie said.

“We had a fire that we had to attend to in Muri, just another careless person clearing their section, and the day before we also had a fire in Kiikii where same thing also happened, we were delivering a load of water and then there was a rescue fire who called us to support their truck attending a fire in Kiikii back road.

“And then the day before that we also had another scrub fire, and on Tuesday evening there was a fire also in the Matavera area.”

Macquarie explained that someone in Matavera stayed to ensure the fire was completely extinguished, but it reignited while they were away.

One of the fire incidents last week took place around 1am, waking firefighters from their sleep to respond to the emergency.

The volunteer fire brigade had been responding to all those fire incidents and providing normal water supply to residents, which kept them busy.

The brigade has decided to limit their water carting services to customers island-wide in order to focus on supplying water to Titikaveka.

Earlier this month, a raging inferno fuelled by coastal winds that propelled flames up to the heights of nearby coconut trees in Ngatangiia was fortunately doused before reaching nearby properties.

The Puaikura Volunteer Fire Brigade, Takitumu’s Teimurimotia Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Airport Rescue Fire Service pump truck attended the blaze in Ngatangiia.

Macquarie earlier said the fire appeared to have started from a shed or beach batch. He also explained it took a lot of water to cool down the core of burnt wood, charcoal, embers, etc. Teimurimotia used about 50,000 litres of water that night.