More on fires
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,’’ she said.
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 regional manager for rural fire John Sutton. ‘‘I don’t want to smile too much, but I’m feeling much better,’’ he said.
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. Instead of ‘‘dirty’’ smoke that signalled a fresh flare-up, the smoke yesterday afternoon was a benign white.
Water has also become an issue, with concerns about the low-flowing Wai-Iti River near Brightwater, which is an important source. Tasman district mayor Richard Kempthorne at the weekend said that while some of the water for the massive firefighting effort was coming from private reservoirs as well as via tankers from Nelson and possibly Motueka, it was also coming from the Wai-iti River.
The river helps to recharge the aquifers from which water is drawn for intensive horticulture on the Waimea Plains as well as the Tasman District Council’s reticulated supply for some major industries and residential areas, including Richmond.
‘‘It’s coming from the same short supply, some of it is,’’ Kempthorne said.
He admitted that he was worried about the effect on the river. ‘‘Absolutely, but this takes precedence over crops, and hopefully it’s not for too long, and then it can just revert back to its normal low flow at the moment.’’
‘‘I don’t want to smile too much, but I’m feeling much better.’’ Fire and Emergency regional manager for rural fire John Sutton
Veteran helicopter pilot Alan Beck, 72, still has the passion for fighting fires.
The helicopter industry doyen spent February 2017 fighting the Port Hills fires and this February he is on his sixth day behind the controls of his heavy-hitter Huey, combating the Nelson fires.
When many of his colleagues and friends have been killed in accidents, Beck still wants to fly.
He didn’t get up each morning thinking this could be the day something goes terribly wrong, he said.
‘‘When you fly you start thinking about the safety things you have to remember. Wires, fatigue, smoke, running out of fuel, looking for other people. You manage that risk in your mind by saying you must stay alert.’’
One of New Zealand’s most experienced helicopter pilots, he said his passion for the industry kept him flying.
‘‘It has to be passion. It’s the passion for aviation. You’re not in it for the money. It is a unique industry and especially with these machines (Iroquois helicopters].
‘‘Most of our work is humdrum, spreading fertiliser, pouring concrete, that sort of stuff. In fires you see the human element.
‘‘I saw a lady in Pigeon Valley the other day beckon me down to put water on her lawn. So I dumped 6000 litres from an altitude. The fire brigade were hosing down her roof. It’s the little things like that.’’
Professional pride and competition also played a part.
‘‘You take ownership of your piece of the forest. It becomes a personal pride thing that you can call up and say, ‘I’ve got that out’.
‘‘You’ve got a bucket 80 feet below and you want to hit that spot. When you miss it, you are pissed off.’’
The pilot, who has fought fires around the world, said the new organisation supervising the fire fighting effort in Nelson had proven its worth.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was set up before the Port Hills fires in Christchurch in 2017 but the Nelson fires are its first big test.
FENZ combined rural and urban fire fighting capabilities and other services into one organisation.
Beck, the chief executive of Taranaki’s Beck Helicopters, which has supplied two of its Iroquois helicopter fleet for the effort, said pilots were impressed with how FENZ had handled New Zealand’s biggest fire.
FENZ had made a ‘‘tremendous difference’’, he said.
‘‘From the pilots’ point of view, and probably others as well, they have actually got their act together on this. They’ve had two years now to hone it and it’s extremely well run. The difference is noticeable.’’