The Star: November 08, 2018
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>November</strong> 8 <strong>2018</strong> 5<br />
Local<br />
News<br />
Now<br />
Fire rages, homes at risk<br />
Another big Port Hills fire looms<br />
• By Julia Evans<br />
ANOTHER MAJOR fire on the<br />
Port Hills will happen.<br />
That’s the stark warning from<br />
an agricultural expert who says<br />
the vegetation on the hills is a<br />
powder keg.<br />
Lincoln University’s Derrick<br />
Moot said active management of<br />
the area was needed to prevent<br />
future events like the Port Hills<br />
fires, which burned for 66 days<br />
last year. Helicopter pilot Steve<br />
Askin crashed and died while<br />
fighting the blaze.<br />
Two separate<br />
fires on Early<br />
Valley Rd and<br />
Marleys Hill<br />
combined to<br />
one, destroying<br />
nine houses and<br />
significantly<br />
Derrick Moot<br />
damaging two.<br />
An investigation<br />
concluded<br />
that both fires were possibly deliberately<br />
lit, though it was listed<br />
as undetermined.<br />
But Dr Moot said in his opinion,<br />
the fire could have easily<br />
spread further and taken out<br />
more homes.<br />
“We’re very fortunate we didn’t<br />
get a southerly. It went from a<br />
nor’west to a nor’east, but could<br />
have quite easily blown down to a<br />
lot more housing,” he said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y were devastating enough<br />
as it was for the people involved<br />
and we lost someone. But this<br />
was a warning that we need to<br />
have active management of the<br />
peripheral area.”<br />
Dr Moot said simple things such<br />
as maintaining grass growth and<br />
grazing would significantly reduce<br />
the likelihood of another fire.<br />
“We need someone to take responsibility<br />
of the area, whether<br />
that be the Christchurch City<br />
Council, Selwyn District Council<br />
or Environment Canterbury.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re needs to be guidelines for<br />
land owners.”<br />
Dr Moot said if NIWA’s prediction<br />
for a hot, dry <strong>November</strong><br />
came through the grass and<br />
weather in the wider Port Hills<br />
area would be in an identical<br />
state as they were before the fires.<br />
He said the effects of climate<br />
change also have an impact.<br />
Rural firefighter Richard<br />
McNamara, who led the aerial<br />
assault on the fire said there was<br />
always the potential for another<br />
disaster given the “fuels” that<br />
were up on the Port Hills.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s always been fires up<br />
DANGER: Ken and Denise McKenzie were lucky their home<br />
was spared in the Port Hills fire of 2017.<br />
there but the issue is that our<br />
urban dwellings are pushing further<br />
up and also climate change.<br />
We’re going to start having hotter,<br />
drier summers,” he said.<br />
Mr McNamara said it was up<br />
to those who live in the area to<br />
understand the risk as he said<br />
management would be hard to<br />
enforce.<br />
Fire and Emergency New<br />
Zealand manager rural fire Tim<br />
Mitchell said there was not a one<br />
size fits all solution.<br />
“It’s not an easy problem to<br />
resolve. You’ve got to think of the<br />
context of each landowner,” he<br />
said.<br />
Mr Mitchell said if landowners<br />
needed help the councils, FENZ<br />
and other organisations would<br />
help.<br />
In the wake of the fires, FENZ<br />
went through an operational review.<br />
Urban and rural firefighters<br />
are working together in training,<br />
as well as working with the<br />
community to spread prevention<br />
awareness.<br />
Environment Canterbury<br />
Christchurch West Melton<br />
Banks Peninsula zone manager<br />
Steve Firth said it was working<br />
to offer support and advice to<br />
landowners on the hills.<br />
Centennial<br />
Armistice Day<br />
Service<br />
Sunday 11 <strong>November</strong><br />
at 11am<br />
Bridge of Remembrance<br />
Cashel Street, Christchurch<br />
On the eleventh hour of the<br />
eleventh day of the eleventh month<br />
every year we meet to commemorate<br />
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