Nelson emergency:
Blaze in city
As a major forest fire raged across Tasman hillsides for the fourth day, forcing more than 1000 people from their homes, a small fire erupted on a bush-covered hill in Nelson city.
The fire on Walters Bluff, which is packed with flammable eucalyptus trees, forced residents to flee yesterday. An immediate and intense firefighting response brought it largely under control before it flared back to life about 6pm.
Walters Bluff resident Lee Fleming saw the fire start in Iwa Rd about 2.30pm.
‘‘I saw it when it was as small as that Mini. Then it just took off.
‘‘It’s so dry up there. There’s so much long grass and they’ve recently been culling some trees there.’’
Whitehead Pl resident Stephanie Drury was walking out of the supermarket when she noticed the fire. ‘‘I looked up and said ‘f..., that’s my hill’.’’
A cordon prevented her going home, but her husband was alerted to knock on the door of their home to wake up her stepson, who was oblivious to what was happening.
It was unclear if the blaze was being treated as suspicious.
The Walters Bluff fire distracted firefighting efforts from the main blaze, which had burnt across 2000 hectares of mainly rural land and forestry land since it began in Pigeon Valley on Tuesday afternoon. One house has been destroyed.
With a total of 22 helicopters involved, the fires are now the biggest aerial firefighting operation in New Zealand history.
The New Zealand Defence Force is sending 18 army chefs, as well as two mobile kitchens, to Nelson to cook for firefighters and other emergency staff. They will leave Burnham Military Camp this morning and base themselves in Richmond.
Since Wednesday, 93 military personnel have been sent to Nelson, as well as three fire trucks and a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft used for transport.
Despite the massive response, efforts to control the inferno have been thwarted by winds that caused it to flare up on Thursday night, and again yesterday.
The township of Wakefield, 30 kilometres south of Nelson, was yesterday being evacuated. State Highway 6, which runs through the town, was closed, other than for those leaving. A detour was in place through Motueka.
Among the evacuees was T J Harman and his family, collecting their five cats and four dogs to head to a friend’s home in Richmond.
The owner of Wakefield cafe The Villa, Michael Meissner, said he had a sleepless night on Thursday at his home in nearby Brightwater.
He was among those to receive a Civil Defence text alert on Thursday night warning them to prepare to evacuate.
‘‘We had the car packed with the most important items, the cat and the chickens.’’
He said he could see the orange of the fire visible on the ridge in front of his home.
‘‘When I came home it was full on, you could hardly see the sun. It was blood orange.
‘‘Once the red disappeared off the horizon, we went to sleep.’’
He arrived at the cafe yesterday morning to find burnt pine needles, ash and old embers strewn about.
At Spring Grove, just outside Wakefield on SH6, several helicopters with monsoon buckets worked to fight the fire.
The highway’s speed limit was reduced to 50kmh because of poor visibility from the smoke.
Residents of Pigeon Valley were asked to leave their homes because of the heavy smoke about midday yesterday.
In Wakefield, ash was seen floating around and smoke hung heavy in the air.
Meanwhile, the last remaining resident of Teapot Valley was ordered to leave yesterday morning.
Farmer Dorje Strang told Radio New Zealand his ‘‘clothes would have to be on fire probably’’ before he would go.
But, as the flames moved to within about a kilometre of his Bell Rd property, emergency services said it was time to leave.
Strang said it was frustrating for landowners who were ‘‘highly competent’’.
‘‘They’ve been preparing stuff, helping out their neighbours, putting up firebreaks.
‘‘It’s quite frustrating given some of the people have been very active fighting the fire.’’
However, Strang admitted fatigue was setting in.
‘‘We’re just getting worn down by it, you just know it’s going to go on for ages, you can smell the smoke, it’s pretty horrible. There’s a bit of fatigue, all the firefighters, truck drivers, the helicopter pilots – they’ve done some hours as well, they’re doing a great job. ‘‘
Stock in the valley had been looked after as best as possible.
‘‘They’ve got to be in a place relatively low in vegetation, but they have to have water and feed as well.’’
Another evacuated Teapot Valley resident, Graham Cole, said he had 10 minutes to evacuate yesterday morning. Asked what he grabbed, he said: ‘‘My [vintage] car. And my boat. Just my toys, bugger the toothbrush.’’