Taranaki police help colleagues in Nelson as fires rage
Police from around New Zealand, including some fresh out of training college, have been deployed in the Tasman district to help deal with the Nelson forest fires.
They include one sergeant and four constables from the Taranaki region, area commander Inspector Keith Borrell confirmed.
They had gone to Nelson on Friday along with a further 15 from the Central District, he said.
‘‘They are helping, obviously, with the evacuation, reassurance patrols and cordons.’’
The blaze, which began in the Pigeon Valley area on February 5, now covers an area of 2300ha and has a perimeter of 27km.
About 860 homes and between 2500 to 3000 people had been evacuated from the settlement of Wakefield.
Since Waitangi Day additional police from outside the Tasman district have been deployed to the emergency response to the fires.
The extra officers included 37 constables who had only just sat their final exams at the The Royal New Zealand Police College, Porirua.
Borrell said there was a large number of Taranaki staff more than willing to help out and a decision would be made this week on whether any others would go.
‘‘The staff are great. At short notice we had so many volunteers. Policing is all about dealing with emergency situations and helping in other areas to keep their communities safe, so if we can do that we will do that.’’
He didn’t know long the staff from Taranaki would remain in Nelson.
On Monday 50 police officers, from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, arrived in Nelson to replace 40 staff who had been there since last Wednesday supporting the emergency response.
Civil Defence said the fire remained unpredictable.
The organisation was working towards allowing re-entry to homes for evacuated residents in Wakefield; however it was not necessarily going to be permanent. On Monday 23 helicopters, three fixed-wing planes, 155 firefighters and 36 incident management staff were involved in fighting the fire.