Firefighter fears deportation
Thousands of people are getting behind a petition to stop a Nelson volunteer firefighter being deported as he fights a massive bush fire in the region.
The petition was created on Saturday for Steve Webster and his family, who arrived in New Zealand from Britain in 2012, with over 6000 people already signing up.
Stoke Volunteer Fire Brigade life member Ken Mahon started the petition for Webster, who volunteers for Nelson and Stoke brigades.
Mahon said that as part of their work visa the family bought a business in Nelson before arriving in the country. However, on arrival they discovered the business was failing and the person who owned it was gone.
Now, seven years later, despite Webster working in Nelson as a car dealer while his wife, Gail, continues to run the business, the family are set to be deported on June 1. The reasons for the deportation are unclear.
Immigration NZ manager Michael Carley said Webster and his family were all legally in New Zealand; he and his wife’s work visas were valid until July 6.
‘‘They will have the opportunity to apply for further visas before then. There is no compliance action planned against the family.’’
Mahon hopes the petition will force Immigration NZ to review its decision. ‘‘It’s not like they are not contributing to the community.’’
Webster was ‘‘a caring guy’’ who would always lend a hand when needed. ‘‘[He] has a great sense of humour and goes the extra mile in anything he is involved in,’’ Mahon said.
The family were ‘‘struggling’’ with the fact they might have to leave. ‘‘It’s pretty bloody difficult for them, they’ve spent so long here.
‘‘Here he is: oh well, I will try put the fire out anyway even if they are going to kick me out of the country.’’
‘‘It’s pretty bloody difficult for them, they’ve spent so long here.’’ Ken Mahon, of Stoke Volunteer Fire Brigade
Stressed fire evacuees face several more days away from their homes as the Nelson wildfire heads into its seventh day.
Civil Defence officials yesterday said it was understandably frustrating for the up to 3000 residents who have been evacuated from Wakefield and surrounding areas but the wind dictated how long the cordons would remain, and it could be several days.
But overall, it was a productive day for firefighters, with forecast 50kmh winds not eventuating, allowing more work on firebreaks and a controlled burnoff in Redwood Valley to help prevent the fire’s eastern spread. It did not grow from 2325 hectares.
However, residents reported being stressed and anxious about the continuing wait to return home.
‘‘We’re feeling a little bit lost,’’ said Kristin Lindup, from Spring Grove. ‘‘I think it’s finally kicking in today that we . . . want to go home but can’t.’’
Her husband and two children, aged 7 and 4, have been staying with family in the Nelson suburb of Stoke. Lindup said she had been to the Civil Defence centre at Saxton Field, and got underwear for the children. ‘‘We only grabbed two days’ worth of clothes [when we left] – it was sort of a rush.’’
Rosie Holland was staying with family in Wai-iti, an area where residents were also told on Saturday night to be prepared to evacuate. ‘‘We’re still waiting to see if we get evacuated again,’’ she said yesterday afternoon.
Her husband and their 6-month-old daughter were staying with her parents, who had only moved to the area from Hawke’s Bay in the past two weeks. ‘‘It’s actually quite eerie. The sky’s quite a lot clearer today . . . it kind of just feels like a normal day. It’s just a waiting game.’’
Sam Burson said she was trying not to let her stress show to her three-year-old daughter and four-month-old baby.
‘‘I’m trying to keep it together and not show . . . it’s stressful not knowing what’s going to happen, or how long we’re going to be out of our home for, or if we’re going to have a house to go back to.’’
Burson has moved to her mother’s home in Motueka, while her husband is helping firefighters by digging firebreaks in Pigeon Valley.
‘‘It sounds like [the fire] is inching towards Wakefield,’’ she said. ‘‘I know that they’re doing the best that they can, but at the end of the day they need to keep themselves safe as much as they’ve kept us safe.’’
A few lucky evacuees were allowed back to their homes in Pigeon Valley yesterday before a change in wind direction forced a quick withdrawal. Sue Kettle scrambled to feed her chickens, ducks and cows during the brief window. ‘‘We were just running, you don’t have time to think.’’
Residents were initially given until from midday to 1pm, but after 10 minutes, they received a Civil Defence emergency alert, warning them to leave. ‘‘It said, ‘The winds have changed, you need to leave the valley now’. I grabbed somes files from my office . . . we just did what we needed to, and got out of there.’’
However, the wind force stayed largely around 20kmh yesterday, allowing firefighters to have a ‘‘very productive day’’ increasing fire breaks and retardant lines, said Fire and Emergency NZ regional manager for rural fire John Sutton. ‘‘I don’t want to smile too much but I’m feeling much better.’’
The Press reporter Martin van Beynen said that, from the air yesterday, the sweep of the fire seemed vast but there were some hopeful signs.