Flyover to assess fire risk

Conservation, Federated Farmers and Wine Marlborough.

Foley was flying over the region yesterday to assess fire fuel and dryness.

‘‘If we get a fire start now, it’s going to move pretty quickly, especially if there’s wind and slope involved,’’ he said at the meeting on Monday.

So far this summer, the several fires they’d fought had been contained pretty quickly. But the district was very dry and the whole Marlborough region was sitting in a total fire ban, Foley said.

‘‘Any resources that we require for a fire are currently soaked up in Nelson so our response capability is going to be slightly reduced.

‘‘The only way we are going to reduce the risk of ignition is getting the public on side, to buy in,’’ Foley said.

The public needed to be thinking twice about any activity they were doing which was generating heat, and whether it needed to be done in the heat of the day, he said.

‘‘Everyone that works in the rural area needs to buy into this and talk to their staff.

‘‘It doesn’t matter whether it’s viticulture, forestry or farming, some of the activities that are undertaken at this time of year are quite risky, and have a reasonable chance of starting a fire.’’

Maintaining equipment, cleaning gear, and carrying water rather than a fire extinguisher were important for rural workers, Foley said.

A massive fire covering about 2300 hectares near tinder-dry Nelson had been burning since last Tuesday. Civil Defence said on Monday it was still ‘‘unpredictable’’.

More than 2600 people had been evacuated from their homes. It’s ‘‘almost certain’’ the fire was caused by agriculture machinery. At least one house near Nelson had been lost.

Tinder dry grass and a lot of wind had farmers beside Marfells Beach, near Seddon, concerned visitors were posing an extra risk in already ripe fire conditions.

Cooking on a barbecue or a gas stove, stubbing out a cigarette or letting off fireworks were often seen at campsites.

DOC South Marlborough operations manager Phil Bradfield said there was pressure to close Marfells campground.

‘‘In the last week, I’ve received Kathleen Grey had travelled more than 800 kilometres and not slept for almost 24 hours when she decided to go for an early morning joy ride around Wellington.

A short time later, after making a u-turn on a state highway and travelling in the wrong direction for 13.5km, the 72-year-old from Marlborough crashed into motorcyclist Samuel Trent Jackson-seligman-lemaire, killing the 25-year-old father and husband-to-be.

Grey had just driven to Wellington from the Northland town of Hikurangi. Arriving early for her Bluebridge ferry crossing to Picton on December 29 she decided to go for a drive.

About 2.30am, on State Highway 1 in Porirua, Grey, who was travelling north, decided to make a u-turn on the two-lane highway and travel back towards Wellington.

She travelled for 13.5km in the wrong direction before colliding with Jackson-seligman-lemaire in Johnsonville, after coming round a sweeping corner.

She pleaded guilty in Wellington District Court on Monday to aggravated careless driving causing death, with police saying fatigue was a factor in the crash.

Judge Peter Hobbs said Grey had not slept in almost 24 hours when she decided to go for a drive in the early hours of the morning.

She claimed after the crash she did not realise she was on the wrong side of the motorway.

Jackson-seligman-lemaire’s