Climate change and its fiery fallout
‘‘New Zealand is an island of risk.’’
It’s a blunt statement from Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Taranaki/ Ruapehu/Whanganui principal rural fire officer Nigel Dravitzki but nonetheless accurate.
The threat of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or tsunami have long hung over the country, so Dravitzki is philosophical about the impact rising global temperatures and the likelihood of more extreme weather events will have.
‘‘Our responsibility is to help manage that risk,’’ he said.
Dravitzki said climate change, and increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air, had resulted in a new threat to people and property.
The Insurance Council of New Zealand also recently highlighted the financial ramifications this will have on the pockets of homeowners, with costs to protect assets set to rise alongside the risk.
Council chief executive Tim Grafton said New Zealanders can expect to face an average annual bill of $1.6 billion due to the impact of natural disasters.
Dravitzki said while the effects are beginning to bite in Aotearoa, the country’s firefighting resources are being sent to help battle out of control blazes across the globe.
Crews, including from Taranaki, have been deployed to places like Canada and Tasmania to help fight bush fires, the frequency of which appears to be growing, Dravitzki said.
Fire seasons are also stretching out as well and this means the potential human cost is becoming higher, he said.
Flames can put homes in harm’s way, destroy landscapes, ruin natural habitats and impact on the biodiversity of the area.
The increasing risk is not as prevalent in New Zealand as it is in other places, but this is gradually changing, Dravitzki said.
He said some brigades around the country are dealing with flooded homes due to heavy bouts of rain, and only weeks later having to re-group and tackle out of control fires.
‘‘That’s going to be the pattern,’’ he said.
It’s about accepting the dangers and doing something about it, he said.
Areas around the country have different ‘‘risk profiles’’ so Dravitzki said it’s about creating a ‘‘constant dialogue’’ with people about what this will mean for their communities.
A 2008 Climate Trends, Hazards and Extremes report, released by Niwa, indicated Taranaki would experience longer fire seasons and increased drought frequency, along with associated increases in the drying out of fuel supplies for fires, like vegetation.
It also predicted drier and windier conditions which resulted in a faster fire spread, a bigger burn area and increased costs related to efforts to put the blazes out, and the damage they cause beforehand.
He said firefighters in more isolated communities in New Zealand could only do so much but Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was well resourced as an organisation.
Part of FENZ’s role was to manage the risks but also work with the community to help it take ownership of them, he said.
The national organisation has four points of focus in the work it does; reduction, readiness, response and recovery.
While climate change and its associated extreme weather events will result in more call-outs for firefighters, their work would go beyond just dealing with what was in front of them, Dravitzki said.
It was not just about turning up, dealing with the emergency and walking away now. It’s about helping communities in the aftermath too, he said.
‘‘Fire seasons are also stretching out as well and this means the potential human cost is becoming higher’’
Principal rural fire officer/GM for the Taranaki Rural Fire Authority, Nigel Dravitzki.