Fire Ban NZ 2026-27: Fire Seasons and Campfire Rules

The three fire seasons

In an open fire season you may light a fire in the open air without a permit, subject to the land manager's own rules. In a restricted fire season you need a permit from Fire and Emergency New Zealand for most outdoor fires, and you must follow its conditions. A prohibited fire season is a total fire ban: open-air fires are banned outright, permits already issued are suspended and new ones are granted only in exceptional circumstances.

Fire and Emergency sets the season zone by zone and changes it with conditions, sometimes at short notice during a dry spell, and announces each change for the area. Many areas move to a restricted season as summer dries out, and some to prohibited, so a fire that was legal in October may not be in January. Check checkitsalright.nz for the exact place you are camping on the day, not the district you drove through this morning, and look at the fire danger too: Fire and Emergency asks you to postpone even a permitted fire when the danger is Very High or Extreme. How these rules meet this summer's El Niño outlook is covered in our guide to camping over Christmas and summer 2026-27.

The land manager can be stricter

The fire season is a floor, not a permission. DOC campsites, regional parks, council reserves and private campgrounds all set their own rules, and many prohibit open fires permanently regardless of the season. Where two rules apply, the stricter one controls. On public conservation land DOC runs a restricted fire season all year, and some places, such as DOC-managed offshore islands, have a total fire ban all year.

At a DOC campsite or day area, a campfire is allowed only in the designated fireplace or fire pit and only when there is no fire ban. In the backcountry DOC allows a small cooking or warming fire smaller than half a metre wide and high, at least 3 metres from trees and anything that could catch fire, and only when no ban or notice prohibits it. Bonfires, charcoal barbecues and hāngī on DOC land need a Fire and Emergency permit, which DOC says is usually not granted. Read the campsite page and the sign at the site as well.

If a fire is genuinely permitted

Use the existing authorised fireplace where one is provided rather than building a new ring. Clear combustible material well back, keep the fire small, and have water immediately to hand, not in the vehicle, but beside you. Never light beneath overhanging trees, on peat, in strong wind, or near dry grass, gorse or mānuka, all of which carry fire far faster than people expect.

Burn only fuel you are permitted to use. Collecting living vegetation is prohibited on conservation land, and many sites require you to bring your own wood. Do not burn rubbish, plastic, foil or treated timber.

Putting it out properly

A fire is out when it is cold to the touch, and getting there takes longer than most people allow. Douse it, stir the ashes, douse again, and keep going until you can put your hand in the remains. Embers survive under ash for many hours and wind can restart them long after you have gone to bed.

Never leave a fire unattended, including while it burns down. Most escaped campfires start after the people who lit them decided it was nearly out.

Cooking when fires are banned

Gas cookers are the practical answer. Fire and Emergency says you do not need a fire permit for gas barbecues, cookers or heaters, and DOC says you can usually use gas burners and enclosed liquid-fuel stoves for cooking at any time, though not open-topped liquid-fuel cookers such as methylated spirits smokers. A council or landowner can still restrict them, so check the sign. Use them on a stable, level surface, well clear of tent fabric and vegetation, and keep spare gas bottles 5 metres from the flame.

Never cook inside a closed tent, an awning or an unventilated vehicle. The risk is carbon monoxide, which is odourless and has killed campers in New Zealand. Let a cooker cool completely before it goes back into a vehicle or tent, and store gas cylinders upright and ventilated. Heading to a summer event site? Its own fire rules apply on top, and the guide to New Year's Eve camping and summer events shows what to check before you go.

If it gets away from you

If a fire spreads beyond your control, do not try to fight it beyond the first few seconds. Move away, downhill and across the slope where safe, because fire travels fastest uphill, and call 111 immediately.

Give the clearest location you can: the road, the nearest identifiable landmark, and coordinates if you have them saved offline. Being able to state where you are, quickly, is worth more than any equipment you are carrying.

Miesta po ceste