Road closed after digger sparks scrub fire
BY JEFF TOLLAN
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As "a ton of flames" chewed their way through Arowhenua scrub, firefighters and civilians raced to stop it engulfing a house.
A mechanical fault with a digger working on a sewer line started the blaze, between the two bridges on the Timaru-Temuka Highway, about 2pm yesterday. Smoke forced the highway to be shut temporarily.
Brigades from Temuka, Washdyke, Timaru, Pleasant Point, Geraldine and Cave turned out. A lack of immediate water supplies meant fire tankers had to bring it in from other locations.
Michael Anglem and several others were working in the river when one of the contractors working on the line told them the flax was on fire.
"We brought our boys down here to give them a hand," he said. "There was a ton of flames."
He said the main priority was warning the residents of a house next to the fire, who were unaware of what had happened.
"We made sure they were in the clear and we just tried to give the [firefighters] a hand. We had to stop in the end because the [brigade] had no water and the undergrowth was too thick."
Temuka chief fire officer Richard Webb said while the fire was not large, smoke from the burning greenery forced the highway to be closed and firefighters were working at the scene for two hours.
The dense vegetation – toi toi and flax – made the fire difficult to put out, but fire crews stopped it as the flames came within 10 metres of a house, Mr Webb said. "It's just a little awkward fighting fires in toi toi bushes because they burn deeply inside."
Mr Anglem said work would probably begin today on clearing the charred area.
- © Fairfax NZ News
