Television stunt blaze riles fire fighters

By SARAH MACDONALD
Times Online - Auckland, New Zealand
08/23/06

WHERE there’s smoke there’s not always fire as the St Heliers’ brigade discovered last week.

Fire fighters were called to Mission Bay at 5pm on Wednesday where a car was reported to be ablaze.

On arriving at the scene the crew quickly realised the smoke filled car was a promotion for Prime’s controversial new show Weeds.

“We weren’t aware it was going to be happening,” says station officer Mark Griffin.

“There was a lot of smoke billowing out of the car so we thought it was a fire. As soon as we turned up they told us it wasn’t a fire and there was a smoke machine in the back.”

Auckland fire crews responded to a similar incident at 3pm on High Street.
“It puts everyone else at risk,” says Mr Griffin.

“If we’re turning out to these sorts of things, we can’t respond to urgent calls. It’s something we could do without.”

Prime Television marketing director Mike Watson says it was meant to be a light-hearted campaign.

“The car is a stunt vehicle decorated with cannabis leaves. It was pretty clearly a promotional vehicle so I wasn’t expecting any confusion over that,” he says.