Flames scorch farm paddocks
Hamish Thorne had other plans for Boxing Day, not sorting out his 120-odd cows with feed and arranging power for electric fences.
Thorne was one of those affected by a large Christmas Day scrub fire in Hororata, in Canterbury, which started near Substation Rd about 1pm – ripping through about 100 hectares of paddocks in 31 degree Celsius heat – before five helicopters and more than 15 fire crews brought it under control by 4.30pm.
Up to 10 houses were evacuated during the firefighting efforts, sending visiting relatives scattering from their Christmas lunches. No houses were lost thanks to the firefighters’ work, though some farm buildings were lost.
Thorne lost fences, pasture, baleage and all of his trees when the fire hit the back of his farm, tearing through about 30ha of his 80ha farm.
Thorne helped fight the fire while his family evacuated to a friend’s house. He said the fire was ‘‘part and parcel of farming’’ and the firefighters’ response was brilliant.
‘‘No-one lost houses and no-one lost lives, so at the end of the day, for a disaster it was not too bad.’’
Hororata Fire Brigade station officer Mike Groters said the Christmas Day fire was ‘‘pretty bad timing’’, but ‘‘you’ve got no choice, you’ve just got to go’’.
‘‘We managed to just about get a full crew, there was only a couple of guys who were away.’’
He said the crew mostly worked around houses, with the fire coming ‘‘right up to the doorstep’’ of one.
One property had a swimming pool, which firefighters used for water. The fire left ‘‘burned grass right around the swimming pool’’.
Groters said the weather conditions were a ‘‘perfect storm’’ and the crew was ‘‘sort of expecting’’ a fire, but with Tuesday’s rain there would be a ‘‘bit of a reprieve’’.
Fire and Emergency NZ regional manager Richard Mcnamara said crews monitored the fire overnight and another crew dug out hot spots on Tuesday.
He said the blaze was ‘‘under full control’’, and did not burn as deeply in trees as first feared.
‘‘One thing you can be assured of is when we leave those fire grounds they will be safe.’’
The Hororata fire was the second major blaze in the region in three days. One house was destroyed and three others were extensively damaged by a Rolleston fire covering seven hectares.
Mcnamara said the ‘‘saving grace’’ for both fires was the southerly change that came through on Monday night, bringing lower temperatures and higher humidity.
He said crews gave ‘‘a very good, quick response’’ to both fires. This was in part due to the rural and urban fire merger in May. Mcnamara said this meant crews were under a unified command structure.
‘‘Ideally, what the public should see in the New Fire and Emergency New Zealand is what you saw in those two fires.’’
Hilary Grigg was about to put the turkey in the oven when the Hororata fire flared up.
Grigg lives on the far side of Haldon Rd from where the fire was eventually contained, but said sparks flew over and ignited before being extinguished.
She said the fire was heading straight towards their house for a while, which was ‘‘a bit of a worry’’. ‘‘We were lucky, there was a bit of a wind shift which took it away from our house and more towards the fields.’’
She said firefighters did an amazing job battling the blaze.
Mcnamara said each fire had an investigation team working to determine the cause of the fire.