Blog Archives

Firefighters off to Aussie Bushfires

13/2/2016

HEADING OVERSEAS: From left, Richard Horn, Andi Uhl (officer in charge, west Rotoiti), Tyler Fox and Roi Toia. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A group of local firefighters are heading overseas to help the firefighting efforts in Tasmania. The group leaves tomorrow and is part of a deployment of two taskforces (43 firefighters and liaison staff) to help combat bushfires.

Among the 11 from the wider Rotorua area are Andi Uhl, the owner of Okere Falls Store, Roi Toia, a self-employed carver, and Tyler Fox, a self-employed tourism operator. The additional deployment is in response to Tasmania's Fire Authorities seeking further assistance, and will take over from two New Zealand taskforces, which are due to return home on February 16.

National rural fire officer Kevin O'Connor said the firefighters would fly out from Auckland and Christchurch to begin the three-week deployment. He said crews already there were making good progress building containment lines around the fires, and their Tasmanian counterparts were appreciative of the Kiwis' efforts. The incoming deployment would initially concentrate on containing fires around Arthur River in Tasmania's northwest, where bushfires were threatening local communities.

Nearly 75 fires are burning throughout Tasmania, most started by lightning strikes and fuelled by drought conditions and strong winds. To date 110,212ha of land has been burnt. Tomorrow's deployment will be the 18th overseas by rural firefighters since 2001 - and the 10th to Australia.

0 Comments

Tasmanian Deployment 2016 - Newsletter 3

10/2/2016

0 Comments

Welcome
The following update has been provided by Nigel Dravitzki. Nigel (replacing Tim Mitchell in Tasmania) is the New Zealand Liaison for the National Rural Fire Authority during this deployment.

Big days in a challenging environment
Our crews are encountering ‘big days’ in a challenging environment. However, the team continues to get stuck in and their efforts were missed whilst they were on R&R.

The NZ Vs. Aust. cricket win on 3 February provided ample opportunity to jokingly tease our
Australian colleagues. The series win was the icing on the cake!

There have been no further arrivals/departures within our deployment to date. However, there has been a request for another two NZ taskforces to join the deployment (which has been made to National Rural Fire Officer) and has been accepted.

Fire Situation Overview
(1030 hours) Tuesday 9th February 2016
State-wide 73 fires remain active:

26 are currently going, uncontained and/or uncontrolled (note: these are switching between status periodically)
47 are in patrol
there are currently no emergency warnings or watch and act alerts.

To date 110,212 hectares of land has been burnt. The current fires have an approximate perimeter of 815.4 km. Several fires remain unmapped. The only fire still with a running front is the Wuthering Heights fire. Hot spots remain for the majority of other fires.

Weather
Short term outlook

A large stable high is moving over Tasmania for the next four days.
A weak cold front is predicted to pass on Wednesday, 10 February.
Good firefighting and flying conditions are expected for the next several days.
Showers are forecast about the north east, clearing during the afternoon.
Winds will be westerly with afternoon sea breezes about the north.
Today (Tuesday, 09 February) it will be difficult to predict fire behaviour.
There is a high fire danger in the Derwent Valley.

Longer term outlook
A high pressure ridge with light winds. A cold change is anticipated to pass over the State on Saturday and Monday, which may bring rain to the West Coast.

Where are the crews working?
The current full deployment is being well lead in the field by Dave Newton (Taskforce Team leader: North) and John Rasmussen (Taskforce team leader: South). All of the teams are in good spirits and are keeping personal safety as their highest priority.
New Zealand crews continue to work from the Strathgordon Complex and Arthur River Complex, mainly on the Lake Gordon and Wuthering Heights Fires respectively.

Rest and Relaxation
Both deployment teams have had some well-earned time off over the past couple of days (7/8 February).

Southern Crew
The Southern crew (based at Strathgordon), enjoyed their R&R in Hobart. After catching up on sleep, members of the crew visited local cafes and ‘lemonade stands’, and took the opportunity to visit the Mona art gallery (see picture below), and visit the Hobart races. Some crew members even managed to squeeze in a spot of fishing.

Northern Crew
The crew operating up north also had a change of scenery, by visiting Devonport. The team at the State Fire Operations Centre compiled a comprehensive list of ‘Things to Do in Devonport’. This list included: visiting nature parks, museums, shopping spots, sights and landmarks, tours and activities, outdoor activities and Nightlife.

However, this list may have been a little misleading, as from all reports it’s a very small and quiet town. But, everyone seemed to have enjoyed the break and they also headed back to the Arthurs River Complex a couple of hours away.

0 Comments

Tasmania Deployment 2016 - Newsletter 2

3/2/2016

0 Comments

Welcome

The following update has been provided by Tim Mitchell. Tim is the New Zealand Liaison for the National Rural Fire Authority during this deployment to Tasmania.

Kiwis Get Stuck In

Our Kiwi crews have been getting stuck into the work at hand, and we’ve had positive feedback from the Australians, who have been very happy with the kiwi work ethic and production rates. An example occurred when a kiwi crew was tasked to go examine a fire which they had little information about, thinking they would come back with size and containment options. When they arrived they found it would be easier to put it out then and there, which they did, with the approval of the operations manager.

Lake Gordon and Wuthering Heights Fires

Currently there are approximately 180 remote area specialists operating throughout Tasmania. These are a combination of personnel from New Zealand, New South Wales (NSW), Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Parks and Wildlife, Forestry Tasmania, and Tasmania Fire Service (TFS). The State Fire Operations Centre (SFOC) remains activated to provide coordination to the fire response effort. Likewise, Regional Fire Operations Centres (RFOC) are stood up across Tasmania, and numerous multi-agency Incident Management Teams (IMT) remain in place. The New Zealand crews continue to work from the Strathgordon Complex and Arthur River Complex with the kiwis mainly working on the Lake Gordon and Wuthering Heights Fires. Lake Gordon Fire is approximately 4000 hectares - the majority of work is to further secure containment lines through cold trailing and extinguishing hot spots. Wuthering Heights Fire is approximately 19,652 hectares - this is still an active fire so the work is a combination of establishing, containment and further securing the fire perimeter through cold trailing and extinguishing hot spots. Weather conditions over the next few days are expected to change to a period of more settled warmer weather; no rain is forecast for the next 10 days and coastal winds are expected to strengthen from the Southwest.

The possibility is that some fires which have shown little activity over the last few days, may show increased fire behaviour.

Photo: NZ Defence and Timberlands crew (plus Taskforce leader) after working on the Wuthering Heights fire.

Photo: NZ crew working on perimeter hotspots on the Lake Gordon Fire.

Photo: Southern crew taking a break to capture the view & waiting for their ride home.

Life on Deployment

A lot of the areas where the kiwis are working are extremely remote, meaning our crews are getting the opportunity to see many landscapes even the local Tasmanians haven’t. Because of the remoteness, most crews are being flown into the fire grounds, up to a 40 minute flight in some cases. Accommodation for crews has not been easy to source due to the large number of fire personnel from out of state, local residents from affected areas needing accommodation, and the low number of beds generally available in many areas. Most have found the accommodation and meals provided to be very good, some commenting they are not sure they will want to leave. Planning for rest and relaxation days (7/8 Feb) is well underway with the task force in the north going to Devonport, and those in the south going to Hobart. Due to travel times between the north and south it was not possible to get the two taskforces together in the same location for this break.

Fire Situation Of the 71 fires in Tasmania: 46 are still active, 11 are contained, and 14 are contained with a watch and monitor in place before closing off. To date the fires have impacted on an area of over 104,000 hectares with the combined fire perimeter of all fires approximately 829.5 km.

Fire Situation - 3rd February 2016

Kiwi-ala?
Most of the wildlife in Tasmania seems to be hazardous and venomous (snakes and spiders), blood suckers (leeches, mosquitos, horse flies), or just solid (so you don’t want to hit them in a vehicle). However, one crew member managed to find what appears to be a new species of Koala bear!

New Zealand Crews

A few personnel changes have taken place with the arrival of Nigel Dravitzki, Dean Hewitt, and Neil Gardyne. Nigel will be taking over the New Zealand Liaison role from Tim Mitchell to enable Tim to return to New Zealand to carry out work commitments. Neil Gardyne has taken over from Rewa Mahia, who had to return to New Zealand following the passing of his father. Our thoughts are with Rewa and his family.

0 Comments

Tasmania Deployment 2016 - Newsletter 1

2/2/2016

0 Comments

Background

New Zealand has sent 43 firefighters to take part in a three week deployment to help combat fires burning in Tasmania.

The firefighters will initially concentrate on containing fires in World Heritage sites in the west and southwest of Tasmania where the fire risk was extreme.

Nearly 80 fires are burning throughout Tasmania, most started by lightning strikes and fuelled by drought conditions and strong winds.

The eight groups consist of five member teams, plus three liaison staff. The teams come from Rural Fire Authorities in Whangarei, Auckland, Rotorua, Nelson and Invercargill. A Defence Force team and Department of Conservation team will also join the deployment – the eleventh to Australia since 2001.

Deployment - Friday, 29 January 2016

The deployment to Tasmania, Australia started with the team assembling at various airports around New Zealand for flights to Melbourne and then onto Hobart.

Most flights to Hobart were delayed for an hour or two due to thunderstorms.

The storms brought some welcome rain to parts of Tasmania. Unfortunately, the rain did not reach the areas that needed it the most, being the North West. The storms also started an additional 14 new fires from lightning strikes.

Accommodation for the night was at the Tasmania Police College. Everyone was on their best behaviour due to a Police recruit course being on at the same time (the recruits looking for any opportunity to practice their skills).

Photo: Team deployed to Tasmania, Australia - taken at the Police College before departure.

Briefing - Saturday 30th January 2016

The team received a briefing from Tony Blanks (ex-Tasmania Fire Service). The briefing covered a range of issues including the local hazards to be aware of (it is currently snake breeding season in Tasmania, so taking extra care was encouraged).

Once briefed crews departed, by bus, for the fires they had been assigned; Strathgordon complex and Zeehan complex.

Strathgordon is a small village established when they built the hydro station - there is not a lot of infrastructure there, and certainly no cell phone coverage. Crews will be staying at the Pedders Wildness Lodge.

For those going to Zeehan, there is even less infrastructure, with accommodation to be provided in Queenstown - many looked forward to this experience given their knowledge of Queenstown, NZ.

Queenstown, Tasmania however is quite different to our own back home. Once a mining town, years of tree removal, fumes from the smelter, and a high annual rainfall have left the surround hills stark of any vegetation. Many of the buildings are of an older style, with few new developments and building projects occurring.

Photo: Queenstown Tasmania Australia.

Fire Situation

Currently there are 71 fires burning across Tasmania, with most incidents located in the west. The bulk of the fires were started by lightning when a series of storms passed over the state on 13 January.

To date the fires have burnt an area of approximately 100,000 hectares, of which 23,000 hectares fall within the World Heritage area.

Weather patterns in Tasmania have been particularly unusual this season with significant rain in the east (some areas receiving 400% of their normal rainfall) and very little in the west (a complete swap of normal weather patterns).

This occurrence has meant areas in west Tasmania are extremely dry and susceptible to fire.
Current conditions onsite are relatively benign with temperatures in the low 20s, high relative humidity, and light winds - the resulting low fire behaviour meaning the area burnt has not changed significantly.

Fire Situation 31st January 2016

New Zealand Rural Fire Authority
Tim Mitchell - NZ Liaison

Arthur River Complex

Waimea RFA
Dave Newton - Task Force Leader

Auckland RFA
Mike Donovan - Crew Leader
Billy Torpey - Fire Fighter
Saxon Ross - Fire Fighter
Kierin Oppatt - Fire Fighter
Simon Stoddart - Fire Fighter

New Zealand Defence Force
Brent Ruruku - Crew LeaderJoshua Nahi - Fire Fighter
Thomas Grant - Fire Fighter
Jonathan McGovern - Fire Fighter
Lance Harris - Fire Fighter

Pumicelands RFA
Rodger Nelson - Crew Leader
James Werahiko - Fire Fighter
Stuart Lyall - Fire Fighter
Alan Keeber - Fire Fighter
Mark Cleghorn - Fire Fighter

Timberlands
Jeremy Cox - Crew Leader
Stephen Gatenby - Fire Fighter
Kahmen Jones - Fire Fighter
Hayden Pearson - Fire Fighter
Darren Melville - Fire Fighter

Strathgordon Complex

Department of Conservation
John Rasmussen - Task Force Leader

NELMAC & Waimea RFA
Ashton Oliver - Crew Leader
Sam Speight - Fire Fighter
Brendan Jones - Fire Fighter
Nathan Palmer - Fire Fighter
Lee Beloe - Fire Fighter

Department of Conservation
Stephen Robson - Crew Leader
Nathan Jones - Fire Fighter
Patrik Eschenmoser - Fire Fighter
Steve Packer - Fire Fighter

Southern RFA
Ken Keenan - Crew Leader
David Coveney - Fire Fighter
Rewa Mahai - Fire Fighter
Vuniyani Qoro -Fire Fighter
Naipolioni Qasevkicatini - Fire Fighter

Forest Protection Services
Garrett Ugray - Crew Leader
Joseph Cowen - Fire Fighter
Taylor Snelgar - Fire Fighter
Nathan Sullivan - Fire Fighter
Martin White - Fire Fighter
Nicky Robinson - Fire Fighter

0 Comments