Firefighters contain blaze in pine tree plantation
Southland fire crew battled a pine plantation fire on Saturday afternoon after embers from a slash pile fire nearby drifted onto the forestry block.
Three Te Anau helicopters were on standby to assist crews from five Southland fire brigades at the fire, near Riverton.
But the helicopters weren’t required as firefighters from Riverton, Otautau, Thornbury, Wallacetown and Invercargill had the fire well under control within one and a half hours.
The fire was one of several across the country on Saturday, as high temperatures and tinder dry conditions encouraged blazes in Wellington and Foxton, as well as fires across Nelson which have been burning since Tuesday.
The plantation is on a sheep and beef farm at Waimatuku. Wind had blown embers from recent slash pile fires onto the ground in the forestry block and caused slashings and dry grass to ignited.
The pine trees had no low hanging
branches because they had been pruned off up to 2.1 metres high. Southern district deputy principal rural fire officer Timo Bierlin said the farm owner had a permit for the slash pile fires but struck problems when it became windy on Saturday.
‘‘It’s very dry at the moment and it doesn’t take a lot for fires to start.’’
The plantation fire was 50 metres wide by 100 metres long and Fire and Emergency New Zealand responded with four fire trucks, three tankers and more than 30 firefighters.
The fire service vehicles had access to a water supply on a neighbouring dairy farm.
Meanwhile, Bierlin thought he could have to leave yesterday to join emergency services fighting fires in Nelson. Six southern firefighters are already in Nelson.