Fighting through the night
As darkness begins to set in over Eves Valley in Nelson, fire crews are preparing to spend the night damping down hotspots over hundreds of hectares of pine forest.
John Webster is the incident controller from 7pm to 7am – coordinating the response throughout the fire zone.
His shift begins by travelling up into the forestry roads above the Eves Valley to see how the crews are faring.
‘‘We’re into the long slow period of the fire now,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s the mop-up – things are just settling down, and we’re getting more and more of the hotspots out.’’
Keeping the perimeter secure is the main priority, with most of the action from the fire taking place underground now.
It’s been a full week since the blaze took hold but in every direction there are signs the fire is still smouldering away.
While much of it has burnt out, all around the hills there are still pockets of smoke and fire visible to the naked eye.
In some parts of the forest the trees are completely decimated, with only thin blackened trunks left standing on the hillside.
Elsewhere though, the trees remain only partially burned, with the green pine needles at the tops of the trees looking completely untouched.
Fuel such as large tree stumps continue to burn under the surface and create potential hazards.
If not dealt with, these underground fires can continue to smoulder away and potentially restart the fire when the wind changes. As the night gets darker, the glow from the remaining fires begins to come into focus.
Webster says there are positives and negatives to working at night. ‘‘There’s trade offs – you achieve more during the day but at night the temperature is generally lower and the humidity is higher.
‘‘It’s easier to put a fire out but it’s harder to get to it.’’
Smoke chasers (utes with 500 litre water tanks attached) and light vehicles do the patrolling, while water tankers travel along with the bigger engines once a hot spot has been located.
Later on in the night drones with infrared sensors will pick up more hotspots, as the ground around them cools.
At this stage of the firefighting, most of the teams are composite crews, comprising urban, rural and silviculture crews.
When the crews switch over at 7am the next morning, the job starts in earnest again.