Smog, gangs and stressed doctors
The arrival of a new gang grabbed coverage as one of the big five stories in The Timaru Herald during October with the community being urged to shun them.
Timaru’s top cop joined mayor Nigel Bowen in calling on the community to send a message the Head Hunters gang was not welcome.
‘‘Timaru does not deserve to be tarred with the brush of being the gang centre of New Zealand that it was in the late 1980s and 1990s, we don’t want that again,’’ Inspector Dave Gaskin said.
Bowen’s message to the Head Hunters had been ‘‘bugger off’’ after news it had shifted its South Island headquarters to Timaru and established a base in the former Road Knights pad.
Bowen called on members of the community to refrain from doing business with the gang and advised residents to ‘‘close the door and say these guys aren’t welcome’’.
Gaskin then aired concerns about the presence of gangs, saying he was ‘‘concerned at all times’’ when there were gangs in the community.
Gaskin acted on his concerns, contacting civic and business leaders and asking them to rally the community to help push the ‘‘criminal organisation’’ out of the area.
Lake Ō hau fire a year on
A year on from the massive fire that devastated Lake Ō hau village, the memories of that night remained seared into the minds of those who fled as they marked the first anniversary.
The fire, which broke out on October 4, 2020, took several days to put out, razed 48 buildings, left an insurance bill of more than $35 million, and burnt more than 5000 hectares.
Some residents have rebuilt, others are in the process of doing so and some are still coming to terms with what happened.
Lake Ohau ¯ Lodge owner Mike Neilson, who lost his home and possessions in the fire, still had vivid memories of the inferno.
‘‘It really is despairing just thinking about it. I can still visualise the fire today.’’
Dunedin-based David Honeyfield, who lost two houses, a sleepout, and an apartment in the fire, was one of the first to rebuild.
When Honeyfield visits the village, he said he still gets ‘‘quite emotional’’ whenever he feels the wind change.
Stressed GPs understaffed
South Canterbury is not immune to a ‘‘dire’’ shortage of GPs in New Zealand, with one Timaru doctor admitting on October 6 he was working more than 70 hours a week, as a new survey showed burnout levels had increased.
Timaru Medi Clinic practice owner Dr Anton van den Bergh revealed he was tired and missing spending time with his children over the school holidays as he works 70 hours a week at his practice.
The survey found the burnout level for GPs was up to 31 per cent compared to 22 per cent in 2016, and rural areas were suffering the most.
Nasty stuff in the air
Timaru’s stubbornness in burning wood for home heating is forcing people to breathe in
‘‘quite nasty stuff’’ that can endanger the health of the young and elderly, an air quality scientist claimed on October 19.
Dr Ian Longley, principal air quality scientist for Niwa (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research), said high levels of particulate matter in the air were due to soot from wood burning for home heating.
His comments followed the release of preliminary data from the Our Air 2021 report from the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ that showed Timaru is the worst in New Zealand for larger particulate matter (PM10), and the third worst nationwide for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the four-year period from 2017 to 2020. ‘‘Environment Canterbury is responsible for monitoring and regulation, and they’ve been aware of this for a long, long time,’’ Longley said. ‘‘That’s why we’ve got quite stringent air rules around wood burning. They’re trying to get people to convert to either more efficient woodburners or ideally away from wood altogether to heat pumps.’’ Longley said the particles are small enough to evade the body’s natural defences and ‘‘get right down deep inside of our lungs’’. ‘‘It’s toxic stuff, and has impacts on respiratory health but also on cardiovascular health over time.’’
Respected glider pilot killed
Friends paid tribute to an international gliding instructor with a ‘‘huge presence’’ after he was killed in a microlight crash on October 25.
Bo Lennart Nilsson, 76, died when his machine crashed near Lake Ō hau.
He was an ‘‘A’’ category instructor, meaning he was considered to be at the top of his field.