Firefighters battle vegetation fire near Rangiora
Firefighters are battling a large vegetation fire in North Canterbury as the region swelters in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Daniel Reilly said emergency services were notified of the vegetation fire, in the riverbank of the Ashley River in Loburn, about 3.25pm on Sunday.
Eleven crews were in attendance with two helicopters assisting efforts to extinguish the fire, which is about 1 hectare in size.
"At this stage the fire is not contained and we're yet to bring the fire under control," he said just before 4.30pm.
"The fire is in vegetation in the riverbank, there's no structures nearby that are threatened, however a large amount of smoke is visible and obviously with the wind it's being pushed around a bit so it will be very visible to people in Rangiora, Fernside and Cust."
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Temperatures across Canterbury soared on Sunday, reaching more than 35C in Christchurch mid-afternoon.
Canterbury remains one of the driest regions in the country so far this year, receiving only 1.2 millimetres of rain over the last 30 days.
Earlier on Sunday, seven fire crews and a helicopter equipped with a monsoon bucket were sent to battle a scrub fire near Hawarden, about 80 kilometres north of Christchurch, at 7.05am.
The blaze burnt through grass off Esk Head Rd and threatened a nearby wool shed and a house, but was extinguished within an hour.
A prohibited fire season has been in place for Christchurch, Hurunui, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts since January 25.
All open air fires will be prohibited but gas-operated appliances, barbecues, wood-fire pizza ovens, hāngi and umu less than 2 metres in size are allowed.
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