Fast-moving fire rips into homes, sheds, farmland
Canterbury fire authorities are urging vigilance after two major scrub fires in three days tore through homes, sheds and 100 hectares of farmland.
Though light rain fell yesterday, hot weather and dry conditions will persist.
‘‘We all know that in these conditions it doesn’t take much of a spark to set off a fire and once you’ve got a wind behind it, it can travel pretty quick,’’ Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) assistant area commander Steve Kennedy said.
Sam Layton was sitting down for Christmas Day lunch at his daughter’s home when he got a call to say a fire was approaching his Hororata house, about 60 kilometres west of Christchurch.
He went home to find the fire had destroyed three sheds, a few trailers and a pile of dry wood.
The blaze started on the corner of Substation and Bealey roads about 1pm. It burned through about 100 hectares of paddocks in 31 degrees Celsius heat.
It threatened homes – one was saved by helicopters dropping monsoon buckets of water – and destroyed a shed and several farm outbuildings. Five helicopters, 15 fire engines and several tankers fought the blaze at its height.
Up to 10 properties along Derrets and Haldon roads, in Hororata, were evacuated. Extended families gathered for Christmas grabbed what they could and fled.
FENZ regional rural manager Richard McNamara said winds up to 40kmh caused ‘‘spotting’’, with sparks blown ‘‘300 to 400 metres’’ downwind.
Firefighters got the fire contained about 4.30pm.
They worked through Christmas night to dampen hot spots.
‘‘The southerly [wind] will come through and that’s unlikely to have a lot of moisture. If that comes through, it could threaten the very dry barley fields to the northwest,’’ he said.
Layton, whose leg was amputated after a logging accident near Lake Coleridge 17 years ago, said the hardest part was the loss of his tractor, which he relied on to get around his lifestyle block.
His house was one of the closest to where the fire started. Further down Bealey Rd, a row of scorched trees smouldered metres behind a house that firefighters saved.
The fire was ‘‘one of those things, can’t do anything about it’’, Layton said.
The blaze came two days after a large grass fire in Rolleston destroyed retired couple Hamish and Belinda Ensor’s Knights Rd home, hit several other houses, including that owned by Daryl and Salve Cross, and ruined sheds, workshops and outbuildings.
As the Saturday fire got close, the Ensors put their two grandchildren in the car and drove through smoke to escape.
Sergeant Grant Stewart said the Selwyn District Council was pre- pared to open an evacuation centre for those affected by the Christmas Day Hororata blaze. So far there was no need for it, but anyone who did should call the council.
About 6pm on Saturday, four helicopters were sent to fight a sawdust fire on Haul Rd, near McLeans Island. That fire, about 100m in size, did not threaten properties.
High-speed crash
Death was probably ‘‘instantaneous’’ for two men killed in a high-speed crash in South Canterbury about 8am on Boxing Day. Inspector Dave
Gaskin described the crash on the Waimate Highway section of State Highway 1 near Glenavy as ‘‘preventable’’ and said an innocent motorist had lost his life as the holiday road toll climbed to seven. ‘‘It appears to be a high-speed crash where the northbound vehicle has crossed the centreline,’’ Gaskin said. ‘‘They were dead at the scene. I’d say death was instantaneous. One vehicle was disintegrated and one vehicle was cut in half.’’
Toddler burned
A 17-month-old boy was flown to Masterton Hospital after burning his face, head and chest with a cup of hot coffee. The boy was picked up by the Palmerston North rescue helicopter at 10.30am on Christmas Day from his home near Castlepoint. The seriousness of his burns were reduced after family quickly soaked him in a cold shower, a rescue helicopter spokeswoman said.
Girl assaulted
Police are urging the Porirua community to remain calm after a teenage girl suffered cuts to her face and neck during an indecent assault in a walkway in the suburb of Whitby about 9pm on Saturday. The girl did not know her attacker, a police spokeswoman said. ‘‘Police understand there is community concern ... and would like to reassure the local community that any attack of this nature is taken very seriously.’’ An online post said: ‘‘A rapist is in our neighbourhood ... young women and probably older ones too need to ensure they stay away from alley ways and don’t go anywhere alone.’’