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Murray Milne-Maresca
Part of a block of vegetation in Opio that was damaged by a fire on Wednesday.
The hot exhaust system from a fertilizer truck is believed to be the cause of a vegetation fire in western Southland, says fire investigator Murray Milne-Maresca.
Fire crews were called to the fire on Sinlair Rd, Opium, around 12:20 p.m. Wednesday.
The exhaust was under the truck and there were a number of ways it could have ignited vegetation, including a spark, the exhaust coming into contact with dry grass, or a hot piece of metal breaking off and falling into the grass, Milne said. Maresca
“That [the hot exhaust] it was the only source of heat in the area at the time. “
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The fire started while the truck was working on the vegetation block, he said.
“As the [the driver] turned the truck around to go back down the hill, [vegetation] it was on fire. “
Milne-Maresca spent most of Thursday examining the 11 hectares damaged by the fire and speaking with the truck driver, the farm owner and witnesses.
A New Zealand Fire and Emergency weather data station located six kilometers from Opio, near Nightcaps, provided information on the weather in the area at the time.
All of the firefighters did a great job controlling and putting out the fire, Milne-Maresca said. It took seven hours.
The work of the Nightcaps firefighters, who were the first to reach the fire, played a vital role in keeping it from spreading, he said.
“They did a tremendous job … they prevented a huge fire from happening.”
Nightcaps Fire Chief Tony Philpott said it would have been “horrendous” if the fire had engulfed a neighboring 10,000-hectare forest block.
“That [the fire] He went two meters into the forest, but the ground teams entered and stopped him ”.
Three rain bucket helicopters and six fire crews from Nightcaps, Mossburn, Drummond, Blackmount and Hedgehope (two) battled the fire.
