Wildfire prevention campaign back on air to help Kiwis spot the signs, stop wildfire

On 15 December 2025, Fire and Emergency launched the second year of its Spot the Signs, Stop Wildfire national wildfire prevention campaign to help the public assess and reduce the risk of causing an unwanted outdoor fire.

The campaign will continue to keep wildfire risk top of mind for the public and direct people to checkitsalright.nz(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link) to make it easier for them to assess risk and take steps to reduce it.

What’s new this year?

This year, our messaging focuses on properly extinguishing burn piles, which account for approximately 40% of the total number of wildfires. We will be reminding those living semi-rurally and rurally that they must make sure their burn piles are fully extinguished by completely saturating them with water. We will also remind them to check for embers, smouldering, smoke or heat in the days (and weeks) after their burn. 

The burn pile message uses a catchy phrase – ‘fire’s only controlled once the middle is cold’ - which is more likely to stay with our audience. This is a similar approach to our ‘keep a metre from the heater’ winter messaging.  

The campaign will run on social media, online video, outdoor signage like posters in summer hotspots, signs in petrol stations, on backs of trucks and on radio. The creative execution has been finetuned to be instantly recognisable in these ‘short dwell time’ channels, where our audiences have only moments to read and understand the message. 

Help us spread the message this summer – you’ll find resources on our website(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link)(external link) to support your kōrero in the communities.