With strong winds predicted across most of the South Island from tonight and extreme wind speeds forecast in parts of Canterbury, Fire and Emergency is urging people to avoid lighting any outdoor fires this weekend.

MetService has issued a red wind warning for most of Canterbury and orange level warnings for most of the rest of the South Island.

Fire and Emergency District Commander Rob Hands says that the winds will make any fires very hard to control and could easily ignite old fires that have not been completely extinguished.

Anyone who has had an outdoor fire in the last two weeks should go and check the site and make sure that it is completely out. Put water on the ash piles or embers if there is any sign of heat.

"We had a foretaste of this last Wednesday, when there were multiple fires across our region and our firefighters dealt with some very challenging situations due to preventable fires. We want to avoid that happening again," Rob Hands says.

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