Fire cause believed to be vehicle contact with road – forestry boss
The ongoing forest fire in Lee Valley is believed to have been caused by a vehicle making contact with the road, a forestry boss says.
Tasman Pine Forest executive director Steve Chandler said he understood that “sparks coming from some sort of metal contact with the road” from a vehicle created the fires along the road edge.
While an investigation would take place, it was possible a vehicle chain had dragged on the road, he said.
Chandler said the fire spread from the public road into the forest. Nine hectares had been burnt, he said, but Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) hoped to have the fire contained by the end of the Thursday.
Compared with the Pigeon Valley fire, which was five years ago almost to the day, the Lee Valley fire was “minor”.
It was in young pines around 10 years old, so was not of “great monetary consequence”. However, the potential for it to get worse with existing conditions was the “big concern”.
Chandler said it was “obviously a stressful time when your livelihoods are at stake”.
“It’s a hard time; it’s long hours. I finished after 10 last night and a lot of the staff were back at dawn this morning.”
Fire breaking using heavy machinery was “going well”, and two to three bulldozers worked in the area overnight.
Tasman Pine and other forestry companies were working closely with FENZ, and predictions were good in terms of containment, he said.
“There’s seven helicopters up there currently pouring water on, there’s three ground crews operating as well [so] we have a good chance of actually preventing it from further spread.
“The objective is to try and have it contained by the end of the day at this time.”
When asked if forestry activity posed a particular fire hazard, Chandler said farmland with dried grass was at higher risk of fires.
Forestry companies had their own firefighting resources, including tankers and equipment. In addition, they worked closely with FENZ in terms of training and preparation, he said.
Some of the people working at the fire site came from the company’s own sivicultural crews, those who did the thinning, pruning and planting, now “out on the site, doing the hard work with the hoses”.
When asked if they were praying for rain, Chandler said: “very much so”.