A new weather station designed to measure wind, humidity and temperature will give rural firefighters extra intelligence when fighting fires.
The weather station was installed this month at Taupo Airport by Pumicelands Rural Fire Authority. Rural fire manager Roger Nelson said the station provided live data to use in a fire emergency.
"It means we can read the wind direction and strength and use that to predict how a fire is likely to develop," he said. "It also has the additional benefit of giving us forecasts so we can find out what the risk of fire is at any given time."
A webcam on the weather station also collects images that are immediately available on the National Rural Fire Authority website, which updates every 10 minutes. Graphs and trends collect data to help the rural fire force decide what fire season the district should be in.
The weather station cost $10,000 and was funded by the National Rural Fire Authority and Pumicelands Rural Fire Authority. To see the data, visit the National Rural Fire Authority website at www.nrfa.harvest.com and select the sub-region Pumicelands.
