Lake Ohau fire: no respite from the weather until Tuesday – MetService

A small alpine town in the Mackenzie Basin was left blackened and charred after a wildfire swept through the area, razing houses and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.

New Zealand Fire Incident and Emergency Controller Graeme Still says the Lake Ohau fire remains “very active” tonight after devastating an area of ​​about 1608ha.

At least 20 houses have been damaged or destroyed in the idyllic location, which now resembles a “war zone”, where fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning.

“I have to be honest, it doesn’t look good,” he said.

“There are only destroyed structures. It’s black, it’s horrible. Much of it is razed.”

Eleven helicopters are at the scene, along with seven fire crews fighting to control the massive blaze.

It is one of three large-scale fires on the South Island, two in the Waitaki district.

Late this afternoon, the fire was heading south towards grassy farmland and land owned by the Department of Conservation.

“For the moment, we have it under control [the fire]But it has a fairly wide fire front, “Still said.

An urban search and rescue team was being dispatched to the scene to assess the village.

“All residents are accounted for and we will have crews in the village overnight in case of outbreaks,” Still said.

Due to the high winds, it has so far not been safe for residents to return to their homes to assess the damage.

“I am well aware of how annoying this is to residents. Their safety is our primary concern at this time.”

Support was being provided to evacuated residents, who were jolted awake shortly after 3 a.m. by an evacuation siren, Still said.

“People are very insecure, they don’t know which of their properties has been compromised, it’s quite sad.”

Crews were working to keep the fire away from other critical structures and infrastructure, including the main power lines that serve Queenstown and Wanaka.

Tonight, firefighters will try to protect structures in the village that have not yet been compromised, Still said.

“It is very dangerous to enter that area at this time,” he said.

“There is a lot of flying debris, a lot of compromised trees, roofing iron and bits and pieces.”

Strong winds meant the fire still couldn’t be contained, but Still said winds were expected to drop to 30km / h or lower tonight, giving firefighters a brief respite before resuming tomorrow.

Still, he said the strong winds made it very difficult for the pilots to fight the blaze from the air.

“It is very hard on our pilots and very hard on our crews. At some times of the day we had to sit the helicopters due to the winds,” he said.

In addition to fire crews and helicopters, two bulldozers and a bulldozer were working to create firebreaks to help safeguard critical infrastructure.

The fire is believed to have been caused by an electric arc from the power lines during the many strong gusts of wind that swept through the area.

But Geoff Douch, chief executive of Network Waitaki, which supplies power to the area, said it was too early to say what could have caused the fire.

He said there had been no reports of downed or damaged power lines that he was aware of.

“Last night we had extreme winds in the area, an unprecedented level of winds,” he said.

“We have had to isolate the power to the entire Ohau area, for safety and so that the fire services can put out the fire safely.”

Power would remain off overnight in the area, he said.

“We will restore power to the area as soon as we are sure the grid is safe to turn back on and when we have the go-ahead from the fire service,” he said.

“It is a terrible tragedy. It has had a great impact on the Ohau community and our thoughts are with them.”

Network Waitaki resources in the area had also been damaged by fire, but the extent of the damage was still unclear.

Douch said the company was assisting FENZ in its investigation into the cause of the fire.

A large forest fire also broke out this morning in the Livingstone settlement, about 30 kilometers northwest of Oamaru.

FENZ said it was alerted at 3.15 a.m. to the pine forest fire on MacKenzie Rd. Several homes have been evacuated.

Sixteen crews, including a command team from Dunedin, were attempting to control the fire.

And it will be an anxious few days for Lake Ohau homeowners, who are unlikely to have a respite from the hot, gusty weather until Tuesday, says MetService.

MetService service forecaster Tui McInnes said winds around Ohau will strengthen tomorrow with a “rain spill” hitting the area on Tuesday only.

“The time that is there now is more or less going to stay as it is for the rest of [Sunday]. The wind has died down a bit, but it will get stronger again as we move forward tomorrow. “

He said the dry and windy weather was caused by the high elevation above the North Island that was preventing a head-on movement from the south that was being affected by flooding.

“Really most of the South Island will again see an impressive increase in the wind … so tomorrow is a clearer day with stronger winds, but then a front marches on the South Island on Tuesday and that will bring a little rain, especially to the McKenzie Basin.

“It’s mostly rain on the west coast, but there will be some spills over the Alps. It will also ease the wind.”

Aerial images show that several rows of houses on Lake Ohau have been destroyed.

And the fire continued to spread southwest in the early hours of Sunday afternoon, fanned by strong winds. It is one of the three major fires on the South Island today, with 16 helicopters helping fight the flames.

The Ohau area had an average wind speed of about 45 km / h in the past 12 to 18 hours, but gusts of up to 90 km / h had also occurred.

Mt Cook had posted gusts of 131 km / h today, he said.

Hugh Spiers, owner of Barn at Killin B&B, is one of 200 people gathered at the Twizel event center after the big fire started around 3 a.m. near Lake Ohau Rd.

“It was like the movies. It was really scary. The flames were big and smoky, thick from the heat, there wasn’t even time to take a picture,” Spiers told the Herald.

He received a phone call at 3 am advising them to leave urgently.

“We couldn’t get out of our normal path, we had to cross the country through a firewall.”

Since then, Spiers has reconnected with his father and his entire family and guests have been accounted for.

He has owned his bed and breakfast for four years and said he had never seen anything like the fire he witnessed this morning.

“I’ve seen wildfires and the devastation they can cause, but this was so much scarier because there were people involved.”

David Stone, a resident of Lake Ohau Village, had lost his home and had nothing left but the clothes he was wearing.

Stone said he had driven through the city and estimated that only 15 of the village’s 70 houses were still standing.

He previously told RNZ that I have neighbors close to me, a couple who have lived there for 27 years. Her place, two for us, is probably gone, well, I think she’s gone.

“It’s like we’re looking over the smoke coming down towards Twizel, it’s very prominent to my left, it’s been moving, it’s peculiar.”

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher had spoken with several devastated homeowners.

“They are quite stoic about the whole situation.”

Kircher said there were still people who had been evacuated to the north and were unable to leave the area, but they were safe.

“The fire is still raging, there are areas of pine trees where it would be very difficult to handle and then there are open terrain that, although they can move quickly, they will not be that dangerous.”

A Twizel local, who did not want to be named, told the Herald that she could see plumes of smoke stretching across the southern horizon from Lake Ohau to the main highway.

“The smoke has been constant all day and rising all the time,” he said.

“There was a lot of smoke coming through Ohau station, it ran through all the bushes.”

Waitaki Emergency Operations Center (EOC) controller Peter Muldrew said there are currently 112 person registrations with the wellness center operating from the Twizel Events Center.

Muldrew said the EOC was working with multiple agencies to support those affected.

Twizel resident Matt Gunn said many residents still didn’t know if their houses were still standing Sunday afternoon.

Smoke was still billowing out of the scene and the focus was now shifting to farmers who were frantically trying to move stocks out of the woods.

“They think the fire will continue to burn into the Waitaki Valley, so that’s pretty serious.”

He said it was still burning towards the Ohau ski field and along the Alps 2 Ocean cycle route.

Assistant Area Commander Stephen Butler said it was a “pretty devastating” scene.

“Fortunately, the village had an emergency activation plan, they had a siren that they activated very early so that everyone knew they had a problem.

“There was a stream of cars leaving town when our first appliances arrived at 4 in the morning.

No one has been reported missing and there have been no reports of injuries.

An Urban Search and Rescue team was bringing drones to the scene to assist with the firefighting operation.