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Fire Brigade report

March 15, 2017 March 2017, Regular Features No Comments

The recent fire in the Port Hills near Christchurch brings into sharp focus the ever present danger wild fire presents to communities. Tragically, this fire resulted in one fatality and significant property loss. Fires of this magnitude do not occur often but as history shows, they have occurred before. And they will occur again. Especially in the eastern areas of New Zealand.

A similar fire raged throughout the Wither Hills near Blenheim on Boxing Day 2000. Like the Port Hills fire, the Wither Hills event was extremely difficult to control. The key difference between the events was that the Wither Hills area is largely un-populated farmland therefore the material losses were much less. The firefighting costs however were significant.

Pockets of the South Wairarapa District are very similar to Marlborough and Canterbury. The nature of the landscape combined with extreme weather patterns may well result in similar fires here. It is really important that we all do our bit to ensure such fires are prevented.

Once started, a rural wildfire is extremely difficult to combat. Readers may be surprised to learn that the energy released from a typical wildfire is similar to having 1000 single bar electric heaters stacked along every metre of the fireline. Imagine standing in front of that!

Firefighters know that in town, you fight the fire you have, its largely contained within a building structure. Rural wildfires are not confined in the same way. They spread and grow very quickly. Fighting these fires is vastly different. You have to think ahead to the fire you may have in one hour, one day or one week.

There are no fire hydrants conveniently located in the street and even fewer roads, there are hills, valleys and different types of fuel. A different mindset and different skills are required in these circumstances.

The recent rainfall in the district will have little impact in reducing the fire risk in parts of our area. At the time of writing this article, the fire risk is high. There is plenty of standing fuel out there. For that reason the Wairarapa Rural Fire Authority maintains a restricted fire season for both inland and coastal areas.

Bill Butzbach
Chief Fire Officer
Martinborough Fire District

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