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A large fire burning through the forested area near Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park has spread significantly overnight.
The fire has been burning since about 11.25 a.m. Sunday after erupting in a Twizel riverbed and spreading into a large forest on Mt Cook Rd (State Highway 80).
It had grown to 2,500 hectares and had a perimeter of 23 kilometers on Sunday night and Monday morning, the public information manager of the Mackenzie District Council emergency operations center, Chris Clarke, said there was a ” significant spread “overnight.
“The winds were pretty calm overnight, but there is so much brush and bushes that it was able to spread without wind,” Clarke said.
Mike Langford / Stuff
Aoraki / Mt Cook were evacuated as firefighters continue to fight a gigantic fire that has closed two state highways and continues to threaten property.
“The good news is that none of the other properties have been affected.”
Clarke said she didn’t know how big the fire had grown, but that there was a helicopter in the air to measure it and get an updated map.
Winds are forecast to hit 120 kilometers per hour on Monday “which has the potential to change the situation.”
Clarke said 17 helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft were fighting the fire, with the first helicopters equipped with rain buckets coming up at dawn.
Bejon Haswell / Stuff
The wind lifts white caps across Lake Pukaki as smoke rises around the shore Monday morning with Aoraki / Mt Cook watching the scene.
“Most of the fire fighting is in the air,” he said.
Clarke said five units of heavy earthmoving equipment, excavators, had been called in to help ground crews establish a perimeter around the fire and protect property.
“They will make a strip 10 meters wide to prevent the fire from jumping.”
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The fire jumped Mt Cook Rd and has been burning on both sides. Both roads were closed overnight, but Twizel’s Sheriff Les Andrew told Stuff that SH8 was reopened around 8.15 a.m. Monday.
“There is a lot of smoke everywhere,” Andrew said, warning motorists to stay away from SH80.
“People would be stupid if it came close to SH80.”
“Everyone has been patient, the police want to thank people for their patience.
“No one has been injured.”
Bejon Haswell / Stuff
A helicopter fills a bucket of rain from Lake Pukaki Monday morning in the battle to extinguish a nearby fire.
New Zealand Fire and Emergency spokeswoman Lyn Crosson said the fire destroyed a building in the Pukaki Downs area around 3.30pm on Sunday.
Three fire crews battled the fire throughout the night, as it threatened other nearby structures.
Crosson said his efforts had stopped the fire damaging other properties.
Supplied
This map shows where the fire was burning in the southwestern corner of Lake Pukaki on Sunday night. The road through the fire is State Highway 80, also known as Mt Cook Rd. It is the only road into the town of Aoraki / Mt Cook.
He said several teams of rural firefighters, mainly from mid-Canterbury, were meeting to prepare their “plan of attack” to extinguish the blaze Monday morning.
Andrew said Sunday that he believed the fire started when a stove fell over.
According to MetService, the Aoraki / Mt Cook area expected to peak at 14 degrees Celsius on Monday.
John Bisset / Stuff
Smoke rises from a wildfire on the shore of Lake Pukaki.
Canterbury High Country, Canterbury Plains and Christchurch, Otago, Southland, and Fiordland Lakes also received a strong wind warning.
However, the weather was expected to bring some relief as some rain was expected to fall on Monday night.
Rain was expected to be heavy in parts and a heavy rain advisory had been issued for the Westland ranges south of Otira, the headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers south of Arthurs Pass, the headwaters of the lakes and Otago and Fiordland rivers. .
The warning was expected to last until early Tuesday morning.
JOHN BISSET / THINGS
A helicopter carrying a bucket of rain heads towards the fire burning near Lake Pukaki.
‘Each of them deserves a medal’
Locals were quick to praise the actions of those who fought the fires.
Mary Hobbs, a local from the village of Aoraki / Mt Cook, said Sunday night that the helicopter pilots continued to do their job despite “hell of daunting proportions.”
“It takes tremendous courage to fly in those conditions with smoke, wind and flames, which sometimes reached 70 meters high,” he said.
Her husband, Charlie Hobbs, was helping fight the fires.
“A heartfelt thank you to each of you wonderful kiwis,” Hobbs said. “Each of them deserves a medal.”
Hobbs also said it was tremendous to see helicopter companies show up and help fight the fires given the impact Covid-19 has had on their tourism-related flights.
“If these companies fail, if these boys and girls lose their jobs, who puts out those fires?”
Tony Delaney was helping out at the Pukaki airport and said everyone did a great job in challenging conditions.
Chris Rudge / Stuff
The fire, near Twizel, tore through two kilometers of trees in its first hour.
He said he had heard that helicopters had already helped save some “really nice houses” among the trees.
“It’s a big fire when you have 20 planes on it, that’s something,” he said.
Delaney also owned a shelter in the Aoraki / Mt Cook village and said he had a dozen people trapped there overnight.
“It is an evolving situation, because this is not going to turn off [on Monday]. “
A Fenz spokesman said Sunday they were grateful for the offers of help from the local community.
“We are organizing food and lodging for a number of staff who are attending and we thank those who have provided resources and support in a short time,” he said.
