Praise for emergency services battling blaze

WHAT an awesome sight, those dedicated and heroic helicopter pilots, working until dark, in stormy conditions, to control Friday’s fire on Mt Maude.

The ground crew, less obvious, is equally commendable.

It is notable that the small group of pine trees, west of the lake outlet, and originally planted to contain movement of the historic Mt Maude slide, have now become a significant wilding forest.

Somehow, building has been consented on this questionable landscape and subsequently endangered.

Thankfully, the emergency services rose to the challenge.

When the same hillside was burnt in the 1970s, the response was a small, illequipped volunteer brigade — and every ablebodied resident.

Brenda Taylor

Lake Hawea