Christchurch Civil Defence Update
Sunday 19 February 2017

Update on Port Hills fire – 9.30pm
NOTE: Unless necessary, there will be no further updates until 8AM tomorrow (Monday)
The Fire Incident Controller says the Port Hills fire is now under control.
“We’ve got the fire under control, but we’ve yet to get a full stranglehold on it,’’ said Incident Controller Richard McNamara. “There’s still a lot of heat in the fire, and a 30-kilometre perimeter to manage.”

He said there was more heavy machinery work to do on containment lines around the fire perimeter and more retardant drops were needed. “That will give us a secure fence between the fire and residential property,” Mr McNamara said. “We need to finish it off now. Having control lines in place is vital.”

He said the weather “was on our side today, with a north easterly and cool temperatures. But there are going to be challenges with the forecast weather conditions.”
“Anything is possible with fire.”

Wind, temperatures and terrain all had an effect on fires, he said.

“We’ve got some very steep slopes, and fire intensity doubles for every 10 degrees of slope – we’re looking at 30 degree slopes, which means the fires are six times the intensity they would be on the flat.”

Mr McNamara said that given the drier conditions forecast, they would be monitoring the threat of flare ups for at least another week. We’ll have 100 to 150 firefighters working on the fire in the coming week. They would be using 10 to 12 aircraft as well as diggers, bulldozers and tankers.

“We could get flare ups in areas like Dyers Pass, where there are forestry areas nearby that could fuel a fire,” Mr McNamara said. “We’re paying particular attention to that area.”

Cloud cover today meant fixed-wing aircraft could not get airborne this morning, and with the cloud cover returning mid-afternoon, the planes had to be stood down again.

Manager National Rural Fire Authority, Tim Mitchell, said thermal imaging was showing hotspots of 300 to 400 degrees celsius. “We’re using the information we get from the cameras to bolster containment lines,” Mr Mitchell said.

Fire Regional Manager Steve Turek said protecting houses was a priority. “We have crews on the ground,” he said. “If there are flare ups, they’ll be there to deal with them."

"We’ve got plenty of resources. We’ve had crews from as far south as Dunedin and Invercargill and as far north as Palmerston North helping us, and they can be called back any time we need them. The guys are very weary, but they’ve got a great spirit – they’re feeling like we’re over the hump. But we all know we cannot be complacent, especially with the weather we’ve got predicted.”

Lead pilot and Chairman NZ Agricultural Aviation Association, Alan Beck said the level of professionalism shown by the pilots fighting the fire from the air had been “really high”.
“Conditions have been extremely bad, with severe downdrafts to deal with. They’ve done a really professional job.’’

The blackened areas the fire had been through were giving the public something of a false impression, he said. “People look at everything blackened, with no smoke, and they think it’s all over – it’s not,” Mr Beck said. “This is one of the most dangerous fires I’ve worked on in my 45 years of flying.”

Mr Beck said pilots had not had time to stop and grieve for their colleague, pilot Steve Askin, who died when his helicopter crashed on Tuesdayafternoon. “It’s his funeral tomorrow – we’ll try to get to it, but we know his family will understand if we’re needed on the job.”

Cordons
Rural Fire Liaison Officer Darrin Woods said the risk of vegetation igniting would be reassessed tomorrow morning. “At this stage, it’s unlikely that further restricted access will be allowed beyond the cordons on Kennedys Bush Road, Hoon Hay Valley Road, and Worsleys Road on Monday,” Mr Woods said. “This is due to the identification of areas of significant residual heat on uncontained fire edges in these locations.”

Current scope of the fire
• The Port Hills fire now covers an area of 2075 hectares.
• The main firefighting effort is taking place in the area above Dyers Pass Road below the Sign of the Kiwi and into Victoria Park, in and around Sugar Loaf, the area around Marleys Hill and the along the southern flank of the fire, where there is still a risk of it escaping out into unburnt fuel.
• The number of confirmed destroyed structures is 11 houses and 2 large sheds.
• The perimeter is about 35km.

A reminder that the Port Hills fire and surrounding zones remain off limits to everyone, including recreational users.
There have been examples of people trying to enter the zone to explore on bikes or on foot. Not only are they putting themselves at risk, but they taking the focus away from first responders who are still dealing with fire suppression activities. The wider area needs to remain clear because if there is a wind change, the fire can quickly spread. Firefighters need to respond quickly and do not want to waste valuable time evacuating members of the public.

The areas between the Rapaki Track and Gebbies Pass are completely off limits because of the unstable environment and the continuing fire operations. Public safety remains paramount.

Total fire ban remains in place
A total fire ban remains in place for the Canterbury region. This was put in place by the National Rural Fire Authority last Thursday to free up resources for the firefighting effort on the Port Hills. As firefighting resources are so stretched, there is limited capacity to respond to any other events.

The Port Hills firefighting effort has required a national multi-agency approach. Everyone involved is focused on doing anything possible to control the fire, remove threat and protect people’s lives and homes.
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