The decline of the Dunedin couch fire

'The tide is now turning'

Nov 22, 2021

A fire appliance passes a couch left on Castle St this month. That couch was one of dozens which would be collected and reused for students next year. Photo: Hamish McNeilly

Disclaimer: I don’t remember couch fires when I was a Scarfie, but I was present at one of the more high profile incidents.

Opener Bryan Young scored 267 not out against Sri Lanka at a test match in Carisbrook in March 1997.

I don’t remember any of the cricket. But I do remember bringing in a mattress stuffed with smuggled hip flasks of whiskey. Other Scarfies brought a selection of couches, mattresses, and chairs to sit on the concrete terraces.

It was all part of a now infamous promotion for students, which was never repeated.

‘‘But in a crowd, there is going to be one or two idiots,’’ cricket administrator Warren Lees told One Network News as the smoke of burning couches drifted over the ground.

Ouch.

I can’t recall what happened to the single mattress of my childhood, but I never returned it to my flat (sorry Mum!).

Anyway here is a photo of an angry man reminiscing about something from his past. PHOTO: ANGRY MAN

I first started as a reporter in Dunedin with the Otago Daily Times in 2008, and would cover dozens of couch fires, often involving a phrase similar to ‘‘one or two idiots’’.

Coverage included the 2009 Undie 500 riots, where bottles were thrown at firefighters, drunks surfed fire appliances, and there were many failed attempts to jump over burning couches.

But in recent years those stories have gone, ahem, dry.

I recall interviewing one fire chief who spoke of the dozens of couch fires in the student area during Orientation alone.

But in recent years, Otago Uni had cracked down on this type of behaviour, which was easier to detect and prevent thanks to CCTV, while Campus Watch patrolled the area.

So in 2019 there were 42 reported couch fires in the student quarter, while last year there were just 25.

Drum roll please; because in 2021, the were just 18.

Otago University Proctor Dave Scott said that was a ‘‘continuation of a year-on-year reduction’’.

It was important to note that the fires were caused by a range of people including students, those from other institutions, and non-students, Scott said.

He noted that there had been an increased focus in recent years on educating students about the fact that “couch fires will not be tolerated’’.

That effectively meant prosecution via the courts.

A couch set alight on Castle St in February 2016. Photo: James Gunn

And Scott had a simple message for anyone wanting to burn a couch on the street.

‘‘Couch fires are not acceptable anywhere else in New Zealand and aren’t acceptable in North Dunedin.’’

It would only take one errant spark and we could see a bone dry wooden villa alight, Scott said.

That was a reason why Campus Watch went door-to-door around every student flat to ensure they had working smoke alarms, he said.

Unfortunately, for a few years there seemed to be a mindset that couch fires were a rite of passage in North Dunedin, Scott said.

‘‘I believe the tide is now turning; we don’t seem to have that mindset any longer. However, there is still work to be done; 18 couch fires are still 18 too many.’’