Blazes stretch fire service
Firefighters on edge as temperatures forecast to hit a potentially record-breaking 36C.
Firefighters and chopper pilots pulled off some spectacular saves as raging blazes at opposites end of Christchurch came within metres of houses.
Authorities remain on high alert as temperatures are expected to soar into the mid-30s Celsius today with gusty northwesterlies about midday also forecast. Christchurch reached 28.7 degrees Celsius by 2.30pm yesterday.
Emergency services were stretched yesterday as a 20-hectare scrub fire caused five homes in Pines Beach, north of Christchurch, to be evacuated and another vegetation fire rushed up a gully to threaten houses in Redcliffs on the Port Hills.
Helicopters with monsoon buckets were used to fight both fires and firefighters from throughout the city and North Canterbury were called in.
The Pines Beach fire, which started about 3pm, was under control by about
6pm, but flared up again soon afterwards. Two sheds were destroyed.
The fire came within a few metres of houses in Batten Grove and firefighters arrived just in time to prevent flames engulfing at least one house.
Eighteen fire crews fought the blaze and three helicopters flew continuous relays with a command helicopter in the sky as well. Rural crews were called in to help overnight.
The Redcliffs fire started about
1.30pm off Glenstrae Rd. Neighbours reported it was in the lower sections of the Drayton Reserve.
About six crews and two helicopters worked to extinguish the blaze, which spread across about 500 square metres of vegetation. It was contained about
4pm and several firefighters remained to deal with hotspots.
Worried residents in both Pines Beach and Redcliffs had prime views of the action as fire crews wrestled hoses and chopper pilots flew low over houses.
Resident Heidi Anderson saw large amounts of smoke from Rifleman Ln in Redcliffs. She watched as firefighters took control and black smoke grew paler.
Pine Beach residents Chris Terris and Andrew Leversedge were out on Batton Grove about 5pm as fire trucks blocked off the north end of their street. The scrub at the end of the street was still smoking and helicopters were flying sorties.
Terris, a builder, said he got a panicked phone call about 4pm and ‘‘didn’t muck around’’ to get home. With his partner safe, he was most worried
about his uninsured 1969 Plymouth.
The fire was a couple of hundred metres away, and he could see flames in the trees through the smoke, he said.
Leversedge said he heard sirens and came outside to see massive flames.
‘‘The helicopters were very low over my house and I came up here where a neighbour gave me a beer,’’ he said.
Another Batten Grove resident, Graeme Galway, said Pines Beach had a big fire most years.
‘‘This time they got onto to it really quick,’’ he said.
He had his Hino house bus ready to go if he had to evacuate.
‘‘I have just installed the heating but I don’t think I’ll be needing it.’’
Paula McLean, a resident on the south end of the settlement, said she and her two adult children packed their suitcases and drove to a safe distance.
She had been following the fire at Redcliffs on her phone, then saw dark smoke billowing over a macrocarpa hedge to the north of her house and heard the local fire brigade sirens.
Yesterday’s fires came as Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) urges Cantabrians to be ‘‘hyper-vigilant’’ about the ongoing fire risk in the region.
Twenty properties near Cass Bay were evacuated for several hours on January 19 as three helicopters with monsoon buckets battled a fire that burned through 15ha of scrub in the hills above. The fire was believed to have started when strong gusts caused tree branches to fall onto power lines.
Another fire, caused by fireworks on December 11, burned through 25 to 30ha of scrub on the city side of the hills.
A few days later, a spark from construction work caused another fire nearby, which spread across about 16ha of grass and gorse.
Fenz assistant area commander Mike Bowden last week said the high fire risk was in part due to Christchurch’s ‘‘variable weather’’, which had caused a lot of plant growth.
‘‘When the risks are high in Canterbury the fire spreads quickly and put people’s wha¯ nau and property at risk, so we’re really focused on aggressive attack and as fast as we can to keep them as small as possible.
‘‘We just need people to be hypervigilant because the first line of defence is people’s commonsense.’’
Canterbury is in a restricted fire season, meaning a permit is needed for all open-air fires, and fireworks have been banned until further notice.