Linton firefighters pitching in
Hillsides raging with fire and smoke greeted Manawatu¯ Defence Force personnel who deployed to the Nelson region to help battle its blazes.
A state of emergency was declared for Nelson-tasman last week, with houses known to have been destroyed in two separate areas, and more than 170 homes evacuated.
Linton Military Camp Sergeant Josh Nahi was one of the firefighters who jumped in to lend a hand.
Nahi said they got the call about lunchtime last Wednesday to be on standby, then later that day the call was made to send them to Nelson.
When they arrived, Nahi said, they were given a briefing then divided into sections and set to work.
They worked in teams extinguishing the fire, dampening down hot spots and enhancing the fire breaks.
He said as they came close to Nelson you could see the smoke from kilometres away.
‘‘You could see it long before you got to Nelson. The hillsides were all smoke.
‘‘As we got closer you could see how thick it was.’’
For almost a week the Defence Force firefighters startedabout 7am and were finishing about 9pm, then handing the shift over to the night crew.
Now things were starting to slow down and Nahi said they were more focusing on dampening down hot spots and cooling as much down as possible.
He said being able to help people through this time felt pretty good.
‘‘There’s a lot of people around here whose homes are pretty close to the [fire] and we feel good that we’ve prevented their houses from going up in flames.
‘‘We have [the] local community giving us waves. They’re quite happy with the job we are doing.’’
Nahi said they would remain in Nelson region for another week.