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A cold change in the weather has provided much-needed relief to fire crews battling two Canterbury bush fires overnight.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) were alerted to a fire burning through brush and brush near Marble Point on Thursday afternoon.
Fenz spokesman Andrew Norris said the fire is believed to have burned some 50 hectares of brush before it was contained around 10.30pm
Hanmer Springs thermal pools and / stuff
Snowy scenes greeted visitors to Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa on Friday morning.
At its peak, up to 40 firefighters were fighting the blaze. Initially, their efforts were hampered by high winds and the fire caused nearby State Highway 7 in North Canterbury to close for about three hours.
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Wind warnings were in effect for Canterbury for much of Thursday, with gusts reaching 106km / h in the Canterbury Highlands and 83km / h at Christchurch Airport.
It was completely extinguished at 11 a.m. on Friday.
Norris said snow had fallen in the area overnight, helping crews with their efforts.
Two crews remained at the scene and were monitoring and extinguishing the remaining hotspots on Friday morning.
Later on Thursday, four Fenz teams were called to a fire at a 30-hectare plantation on Happy Valley Rd, near Motunau Beach, about 70 kilometers north of Christchurch. .
Eleven crews fought the blaze at its peak, but it was contained around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
Fire crews returned to the scene to monitor and assess the damage on Friday morning.
Norris said that while there were still some hot spots, the area had become very muddy, so teams made the decision to return Saturday to let the ground dry.
Simon O’Connor / Stuff
A cold change in the weather has provided much-needed relief to fire crews battling two Canterbury bush fires overnight. (File photo)
Instead, the plantation owner would monitor the area.
The cause of both fires has yet to be determined, but neither is believed to be a suspect, Norris said.
No property was damaged and no one was injured in any of the fires.
The Hanmer area was expecting around 5.6 millimeters of rain on Friday with a high of 13 degrees Celsius, according to MetService.
The Motunau area received around 8.6mm of rain on Thursday, but no further rain was expected on Friday. A maximum of 14 ° C was forecast with some southwest winds turning northwest in the late afternoon.
