City under fire
Suspicions that the latest fire, on Walters Bluff, was deliberately lit
By last night, about 3400 residents had been evacuated from their homes in the Tasman area as the third fire in four days plagued the region.
The scenes from Nelson was the worst for the area for nearly four decades.
Hundreds of firefighters from around the country have been battling the blazes.
Helicopters were grounded for a time yesterday during firefighting efforts after reports of a drone and police arrested a man nearby for disorderly behaviour.
Multiple fires have wreaked havoc in Nelson in what has become one of the largest firefighting operations in this country’s history.
The fires south of Nelson have now been burning for four days and about
1000 houses have been evacuated. Hundreds of firefighters have travelled from around the country to assist.
With 22 helicopters battling the blazes from the air, it is the largest aerial firefight on record.
A new fire broke out alarmingly close to the Nelson city centre yesterday and fire services were rushing to keep it under control last night as winds picked up again.
Some of the helicopters near the city were temporarily grounded in the evening after a drone was sighted, prompting officials to urge residents to “please stop” interfering with their operations.
There were also suspicions that the latest fire, on Walters Bluff, was deliberately lit.
Police confirmed that a 49-yearold man was arrested in the area on a disorder offence, but would not say whether it was related to the fire.
South of Nelson, 3000 residents were evacuated from the town of Wakefield because of concerns that embers in the nearby Pigeon Valley were being thrown up to 800 metres.
“It is so dry and we are very vulnerable,” said Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne, who urged the public to be vigilant.
“Just one spark can cause the next blaze.”
Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) regional manager rural John Sutton said the 2000ha fire was not yet contained, with crews having worked through the night.
“So far we have got through the day without any significant growth in the fire. There has certainly been a lot of active burning internally but so far it has been within the control lines that we have,” he said.
“If this continues on for the day, it will put us in a pretty good situation.
“We are working as hard as we possibly can with resources around that fire path at the moment to make sure we have as much defence in place as we possibly can and at the moment we are not being threatened — but we wouldn’t want the current wind to get any stronger.”
The decision to evacuate the Wakefield area was made at 12.50pm, causing the 3000 residents to find other accommodation. At the time, the fire’s front had come within 2km of the township. Early last night, another 100 residents were evacuated from near Wakefield.
“It is a precautionary measure but we want people to be prepared to move if the fire profile changes overnight,” Inspector Zane Hooper said.
Many evacuees appeared to have found new shelter with friends and family. A Civil Defence evacuation shelter at Saxton Stadium was eerily quiet.
Police said they and defence force personnel were going door-to-door to every property in the community to make sure that the evacuation was completed.
The second inferno near the city sparked up just before 3pm near Nelson’s waterfront, forcing crews from Pigeon Valley to divert their attention.
The fire was said to have spread rapidly up a hill, threatening six houses in the area.
While huge plumes of smoke could be seen across the city, roads were closed and cellphone coverage went down. It was brought under control by 5pm with the only immediate known structural damage to a residential veranda.
However, it threatened to take off again as winds rose and crews would be working through the night to contain it. It is not known when residents could return to their properties.
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said the response to the fire near the waterfront was “fast and effective, but there was more work to do”.
“I know there will be some disruption in the city tonight but please be patient. And to everyone, we have closed reserves for a good reason. Please stay out of reserves — that is the best thing that you can do to help prevent any further fires.”
Fire scientist Grant Pearce, of Scion Rural Fire Research Group, said the Nelson region has a history of big forest fires with a similar sized fire at Hira on the outskirts of the city in 1981 which burned 1972ha.
New Zealand’s worst fire was in Christchurch in 1947 when the Ballantyne’s department store was razed with the loss of 41 lives.
In Nelson, one person has been hospitalised suffering from smoke inhalation. There has been no loss of life.