Stock die, buildings razed
Firefighters will be back on the scene of a large rural fire near Burkes Pass this morning to extinguish remaining hot spots of a blaze that killed stock and damaged farm buildings and an empty house yesterday.
The fire, which started on land near Stanton Station between Kimbell and Burkes Pass alongside State Highway 8, was one of more than 20 vegetation fires across the South Island on Thursday night fanned by high winds and hot temperatures.
‘‘The fire spread quickly in lowvalue forestry and tussock,’’ Chris Clarke, public information manager, Mackenzie District Council emergency operations centre said.
By last evening, the fire had covered 100 hectares with Clarke saying there had been no injuries to the public and investigators were yet to ascertain the cause.
He said Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) had the fire fully contained by darkness and planned to return today to finish extinguishing and dampening down the remaining hot spots.
While temperatures cooled in the area yesterday afternoon, Clarke said the wind remained changeable and ‘‘was a significant factor in their response’’.
‘‘We are continuing to assess the impact of the weather, which remains a significant factor in terms of how the situation will unfold.’’
A firefighting presence was maintained throughout last night, in the form of a relief crew which monitored the fire. A helicopter equipped with a specialist thermal imaging camera will be sent up this morning to survey the area.
‘‘The full extinguishment of this fire may take a number of days, with crews continuing to work on the site until this is achieved,’’
Clarke said.
John Willetts, who was brought up in the nearby Dornie area, believed the main building on the property, which was more than 125 years old, was likely to have been devastated by the fire.
‘‘It’s all very sad,’’ Willetts said. A farm spokeswoman from Stanton Station said the owners of the station wished to thank the fire crews, helicopter pilots and volunteers for all they had done.
She said there had been no stock lost or buildings damaged on Stanton Station.
Dave Clark, owner of the Silverstream Hotel in nearby Kimbell, said the fire looked ‘‘pretty extensive’’.
‘‘We saw heaps of smoke out of the back of the hills, there were a number of helicopters tackling it,’’ Clark said.
‘‘It got quite close to the road. There were a few rubberneckers wanting to have a look but they’ve since been moved on.’’
Clarke said Fenz have significant resources on site, including five helicopters, two 20-tonne diggers, three tankers, three firefighting appliances, and a further four firefighting vehicles including the Fenz command unit.
At the height of the operation there were about 50 personnel on site, with another 16 support staff assisting from the council base in Fairlie.
The fire also cut power to the Burkes Pass-Kimbell area as Alpine Energy reported other power outages in South Canterbury in at least 14 areas, all caused by winds.
Outages began at 11.19pm on Thursday in Balmoral, Mobiles Plain, Braemar, Ferintosh, Glentanner, Mt Cook, and Tasman Downs. Fairlie, Burkes Pass, Kimbell, Hazelburn, and Opihi. Totara Valley, Makikihi and Opihi were added to the list yesterday morning.