Central Otago fires recalled

The fires in Central Otago this month brought back grim memories for people who survived a civil defence emergency in 1999. Reporter John Edens speaks with one family whose property was in the line of fire.

On the last day of February 1999, at 6pm, a civil defence emergency was declared in Central Otago as grass fires north and south of Alexandra raged out of control, threatening residents, properties and livestock.

The declaration was lifted at noon the next day. One person died from a heart attack caused by shock and many farm buildings, fences and livestock were destroyed by fire.

The encroaching wall of flames had forced about 200 people to evacuate 40 properties.

The Kampjes' 4ha peony farm, below Brandy Hill off Springvale Rd near Clyde, was caught in the path of the flames.

Gerry Kampjes said he remembered all four walls of his concrete house being licked by flames and firefighters celebrating when it kept standing.

Since 1999 any fuel around the property had been cleared, he said.

Available growth was not as dense as it had been then but conditions were still dangerous, he said.

Mr Kampjes' wife Rusty said she had planted slow-burning foliage – such as agapanthus and sedum – around the house to protect it from fire.

She coughs to this day after spending hours beating the flames, which she stopped by turning sprinklers on.

Afterwards a ring of charred ground encircled their house and the couple, who moved to Central Otago in 1978, were lucky to lose only guttering and posts to the fire.

It was at least six years before evidence of the fire faded.

Clyde chief fire office Richard Davidson, who was on duty in 1999, said a long, dry summer had led to extreme drought conditions.

The fire weather index was "off the scale", he said.

Some 60 fire engines and tankers, 10 helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft spent days fighting many fires across 7800ha – including significant blazes near Clyde, in the Springvale Rd and Galloway areas, between Alexandra and Roxburgh and a fire that left onlookers stunned when it crossed the lake into the Roxburgh East area towards Lake Onslow.

"You can still see evidence of that fire. It rained a bit that night, which helped, but we were still putting fires out a week later," he said.

Clyde crib owner Colin Downing, of Dunedin, said he remembered watching pictures of the inferno on television.

In places the devastation was pockmarked, with pockets of land and property miraculously escaping, he said.

Conditions in tinder-dry Central Otago late last year and this year are not so different from those of 1999.

Firefighters and residents have told The Southland Times they cannot remember a time when the district was so dry so early.

A prohibited fire season was declared by the district council in November last, at least a month earlier than previous years.

Niwa climate scientist Dr Brett Mullan said this year's El Nino pressure patterns caused stronger winds from the west "which we're seeing across the South Island".

High winds were likely to persist in Central Otago until late summer or even autumn, he said.

While a La Nina can lead to hot, dry conditions – as in 1999 – and an attendant fire risk persistent winds from an El Nino dry out shrubs and trees in Central Otago, where rainfall is low.

Average or below-average rainfall and temperatures were expected during summer and the windy conditions were likely to persist, he said.

In other words, the fire risk is unlikely to diminish any time soon.

Volunteers battled a series of deliberate fires in Central Otago this month – one in Clyde started by two 14-year-olds and another sparked by two young brothers in Alexandra.

Meanwhile, the Department of Conservation is treating a late December fire at the Flat Top Hill Conservation area near Alexandra as "reckless".

Mrs Kampjes said setting fires in such a dry landscape was comparable to drink-driving – stupidity combined with criminality.

"It's risking people's property and it's risking people's lives, particularly the lives of those fighting the fires."

Central Otago principal rural fire officer Owen Burgess, who was on duty in 1999, said firefighting methods had improved. The co-ordinated incident management system, designed to streamline responses to incidents involving multiple emergency service, was in its infancy a decade ago, he said.

Firefighters today had more resources, faster response times and technology had improved, he said. "There wasn't the gear we have now.

"We've sharpened our management structures. There will always be fires and we always try to improve because every fire is different."

Three fires in 1999 were started by high winds toppling power poles and causing lines to spark while the cause of a fourth blaze was never found.

- © Fairfax NZ News