Dunedin in haze as blaze rages

BY WILMA MCCORKINDALE AND MICHELLE SUTTON

A blaze northwest of Dunedin has engulfed more than 700ha of pine forest.

The fire broke out about 4pm on Tuesday in a cut-over Wenita forestry block just above the Taieri River at Mt Allen.

Wenita Forest Products chief David Cormack said a spark caused by friction from a logging haul rope started the fire.

Mr Cormack said the company was continuing with plans today to launch a chemical assault on the blaze using an aeroplane.

The scene remained too dangerous for ground fire crews at this stage, he said.

Ten helicopters have been in the air attacking the flanks of the fire with monsoon buckets for the past two days since it broke out.

At a media briefing yesterday afternoon, Dunedin City Council civil defence and rural fire manager Neil Brown said five homes had been evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Up to another 20 have been cautioned they might need to move if the fire moves closer, Mr Brown said.

It had been a complicated fire because of the terrain, and the forest had fuelled it, he said.

Mr Cormack was last night welcoming a change in the wind and a drop in temperature as the fire raged for the second night.

"It certainly wasn't very favourable conditions for us between 12.30pm and 5pm today," he said yesterday.

"The wind really got up. But things look as though they're improving."

Dunedin City Council and neighbouring Clutha and Southland district councils, the Department of Conservation, Civil Defence and police were involved in fighting the blaze.

The New Zealand Fire Service was providing logistic and communication support.

Yesterday, they were surrounded by caramel clouds of choking smoke, fuelled by dry, seemingly relentless winds.

The smoke swirled around patches of forestry and a landscape scarred by the overnight blaze before being carried off into the distance as far as the city, which has been shrouded day and night.

Rural fire crews were stationed on the crest of a hill close to the periphery of the blaze.

The yellow command vehicle sat enveloped in the haze. Ground crews tended to helicopters flying in and out with bright red monsoon buckets. The helicopters swooped down into the chasms of the Taieri Gorge, collecting water from the Taieri River before ascending into the flames.

The regular dousings seemed like a drop in the bucket against the unforgiving flames that rose through the plumes of smoke.

Mr Cormack said it was too soon for Wenita Forest Products to begin estimating its financial losses as a result of the fire.

- D Scene