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Residents of Lake Ōhau are already talking about rebuilding their “magical” village just days after a massive fire destroyed most of the small township.
A fire started in the village, in the Waitaki basin near Twizel, early Sunday and is believed to have destroyed up to 50 buildings and burned 5,360 hectares.
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said many residents were already talking about rebuilding.
Charlie O’Mannin / Stuff
Homes destroyed in Lake Ohau village after massive fire tore through the village on Sunday.
“There are many people who, despite how dark it seems at the moment, intend to rebuild.”
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Kircher said many of the residents were “very passionate” about the “magical place.”
Bejon Haswell / Stuff
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, center, is flanked by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Civil Defense Minister Peeni Henare at a media booth on Lake Ohau Monday morning.
“They are resilient, they’ve been through a pretty big test and are still going through that test, but their ability to look on the bright side and look to the future and be optimistic about the future speaks volumes about their character.”
However, he was concerned that the fire had spread to set-aside lands managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
“It is in a dry area. I understand the need to protect the land, but leaving the vegetation alone is a great risk. It is a massive fuel source for this fire.”
Supplied
Lake Oahu property owner Steve Simmons captured this image of the fire Sunday morning.
Current funding to deal with Scots pines was only available for public lands, he said.
“We need to view this as a problem for our broader New Zealand community.”
Meanwhile, many residents wanted to rebuild “as soon as possible,” he said.
“Those with whom I have spoken want to move on.”
Janet Brown / Supplied
What remains of Janet Brown’s house in Lake Ohau after Sunday’s fire.
Janet Brown and her husband spent two cold years in a trailer while building their dream home in town. They were already planning to rebuild.
“We just don’t know when. We love being here, it’s a very special place.”
Resident David Stone said he and his wife would review their options.
“I think several people will return … it is a special place, it is raw, it is natural. It has spectacular views.”
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
David Stone describes the loss of his home in the Lake Ohau fire.
The couple had lived in the village for about six years. There were about 15 permanent residents and many more were left in potholes during school holidays, Stone said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) brought three buses full of owners back to the village on Monday, so they could see the damage for themselves.
Residents of Fenz Incident Controller Rob Hands who needed to recover essential items from undamaged property within the fire cords could sign up for escort to and from their homes Tuesday.
Managed access would be for urgent essential purposes, such as merchants retrieving tools or people in need of medicine.
Access would be available between 10 am and 2 pm as long as conditions are safe for entry.
“We appreciate how eager people are to go home or retrieve their personal belongings. We are providing accompanied access as an intermediate step,” Hands said.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Dwayne Rennie says the village looks like a “war zone” after the fire.
Dwayne Rennie, a co-owner of Barn at Killin B&B with Hugh Spiers, said residents were not allowed to go out and inspect their properties.
“It literally looked like a war zone … it was like a bomb had dropped in some places.
“Some houses are not touched next to houses that have completely disappeared.”
Spiers took a bottle of formula for a lamb that he hoped would have survived the fire, but could not reach his destroyed property.
Rennie said the atmosphere on the bus was “very emotional.”
“Everybody leaned on, somebody would cry, like me, from time to time.
“It’s our home and our business. I’m devastated right now, I haven’t slept for two days really that exhausted.”
Joanne Holden / Things
New Zealand Fire and Emergency Te Kei Region Manager Mike Grant, left, and Incident Controller Graeme Still update the media on a bus tour of the fire-damaged village of Lake Ohau .
Fenz Incident Controller Graeme Still said the fire, which was contained on Monday, had caused the most destruction it had seen in its 40 years of firefighting.
“We will continue to hold those containment lines and extend them, widen them, and we will reassess [on Tuesday]. “
Hands said a drone equipped with an infrared camera was deployed Monday night to search for access points, and structure protection teams worked overnight to deal with any outbreaks. The helicopters and ground crew would go back to work at first light.
Civil Defense Minister Peeni Henare announced that the Government would provide $ 100,000 as an initial contribution to help those affected by the fire.
“What we have just witnessed is completely devastating to the people of this community,” he said.
Farmers at Lake Ōhau spent much of Monday counting stocks and assessing the damage from the fire.
Charlie O’Mannin / Stuff
Residents are assessing the damage, and whether to rebuild, after the fire ripped through their village.
Grant Murray estimated that two-thirds of the 2,500ha he leased had been burned, but he was confident that most of his 1,800 sheep had survived.
Glenbrook farmer Simon Williamson said he believed the abundance of Scots pines in the area had fueled the fire, similar to what happened at Lake Pukaki about a month ago.
“It is happening in places that are not being grazed. It is mostly Conservation Department land or places where the city council makes any development impossible.”
Bejon Haswell / Stuff
Farmer Simon Williamson says that when debris from the fire hit his property, he feared flames would break out on his land.
“At some point, there will be a massive loss of life,” he said.
In a statement, DOC operations manager Karina Morrow said that allowing grazing on conservation land would have “a significant negative impact” on native species.
The grazed bush would still burn, “so livestock are lost in fast-moving grass fires.”
“The hot, dry climate of the Mackenzie Basin and the golden bush landscape unfortunately mean that fire will always pose a threat.”
