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A Lake Ohau Village resident says the town now resembles a war zone, with about 30 homes and many cars destroyed by a wildfire that has bombed the Mackenzie Country area.
Damage to Lake Ohau Village, as seen in airborne video.
Photo: Gary Kircher
Fire and Emergency says it is blazing through the pine forest and grass in the Mackenzie Basin, and is being fanned by strong winds from the west.
The fire is said to now run south towards Ohau Downs.
Fire and Emergency now says the fire is 200 hectares in size and growing, and strong winds are making fire fighting conditions difficult.
It has confirmed that dozens of houses have been lost.
There are 16 crews fighting him.
Approximately 200 people are now gathered at the Twizel evacuation center.
David Stone says the small village had about 50 houses, many of which he believes have been burned, including his own.
He told RNZ that early this morning he had been standing near Lake Ohau watching a helicopter put out the fire right on the road and three helicopters working over the village.
“We have been told that it is [his house] gone. Near me there is a couple who have lived here for 27 years and their house next to us, I think they have also left.
“Something like looking over the smoke coming down towards Twizel, it’s very prominent to my left, it’s been moving, it’s peculiar.
“There are several lifestyle blocks between the village and the place where the fire is located. And they have probably suffered too.”
Stone said three helicopters are pouring water on the flames over the village and that the fire has traveled across the lake.
“There have been extraordinarily strong winds here – Ohau means place of wind, and it has certainly been up to the task.
Gary Kircher
Photo: RNZ / Lydia Anderson
Stone said the cars have also been burned and the area looks like a war zone.
Stone said the fire was now being fueled by dry grasses as it burned Canterbury’s merino farmland.
Waitaki Emergency Operations Center has been activated; Controller Peter Muldrew says people evacuated from the village are being searched at the welfare center set up in Twizel.
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said the village residents are in shock.
“They had to get out really, really fast.
“It would be very understandable for them to be in that state of disbelief. I think I really realized it when I received an email with some photos from one of the owners with the subject: ‘end of an era for us.’
“Ohau Village is mainly vacation homes and houses that people want to retire to, and to a large extent it is almost a nature lifestyle, and for many people that will disappear.”
He said the fire is suspected to have been caused by power lines that bowed in the wind.
Police say Lake Ohau Road, along State Highway 8 in the Waitaki District, is currently closed due to the fire.
Police are asking motorists to avoid the area while emergency services are on the scene.
Sergeant Major Paul Robertson says that various agencies are now supporting evacuees, especially those who have lost their homes.
“We have Civil Defense on board and I understand that we will also contact Victim Support.”
Police have been evacuating all Lake Ohau Village residents, as well as the surrounding campgrounds and other properties.
“Police and firefighters [Fire and Emergency] They are searching the village to make sure everyone is accounted for. “
Robertson says residents were initially evacuated to nearby Ohau Lodge. However, Civil Defense says they are now directing them to the Twizel Events Center.
Speaking from the Twizel Wellness Center, Ahuriri Ward Councilman Ross McRobie told RNZ that so far everyone is safe.
“There is a lot of sadness with the groups of people here … many of them have lost their homes. What they have is what they have with them, some people do not have wallets, some people have no clothes, but it seems they all have vehicles” .
Hugh Spiers, who runs a bed and breakfast in the area, told the New Zealand Herald that he had to leave quickly after a 3 a.m. call.
He says it was terrifying to drive through the fire ground. He was separated from his father in the dark while on the run, but has since reconnected with his family and guests, all of whom have been accounted for.
Meanwhile, a large forest fire has also broken out in the Livingstone settlement, about 30 kilometers northwest of Oamaru.
Fire and Emergency say they were alerted at 3.15am to the pine forest fire on MacKenzie Road. Several homes have also been evacuated from the area.
8am UPDATE: MCKENZIE ROAD FIRE, LIVINGSTONE
Fire crews are currently fighting a large fire burning in a pine forest on Mckenzie Road, Livingstone.
We were alerted to the fire at 3.15am.
The fire is being fanned by strong winds.
– Fire and Emergency New Zealand (@FireEmergencyNZ) October 3, 2020
Sixteen crews, including a command team from Dunedin, are trying to control that fire. They are assisted by eight helicopters with rain buckets.
Fire and Emergency says the fire is being fanned by strong winds.
Firefighters battled a large fire in the region last month.
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