Firefighting crews who managed to contain a large forestry fire on Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty will be spending their Christmas back on site to ensure it doesn’t flare up again.
The fire began on Saturday night and burned through about 37ha of scrub and pine slash on the island. Residents described the blaze as a “beast”, like a “taniwha” and “really scary”.
In a statement released last night, Fire and Emergency New Zealand district commander Jeff Maunder said helicopters and monsoon buckets, heavy machinery and fire crews would return to the island this morning “to work on extinguishing the fire”.
There had already been a heavy firefighting presence on site since the fire began and the blaze had largely been extinguished. At least two helicopters, nine fire trucks and 24 crew members were battling the fire on Sunday.
While most of the flammable scrub and slash were already burned, “with the wind continuing to ease, we’re confident of holding the fire contained within its current perimeter”, Maunder said.
The fire crews working today were expected to monitor the fire. “They’ll also be reinforcing our containment lines to further ensure the fire is unable to break out.” Maunder said smoke from the vegetation fire had been drifting across Tauranga and the coast. Ash has also been reported falling in the Gate Pa suburb.
The fire began on Saturday night and burned through about 37ha of scrub and pine slash on the island. Residents described the blaze as a “beast”, like a “taniwha” and “really scary”.
In a statement released last night, Fire and Emergency New Zealand district commander Jeff Maunder said helicopters and monsoon buckets, heavy machinery and fire crews would return to the island this morning “to work on extinguishing the fire”.
There had already been a heavy firefighting presence on site since the fire began and the blaze had largely been extinguished. At least two helicopters, nine fire trucks and 24 crew members were battling the fire on Sunday.
While most of the flammable scrub and slash were already burned, “with the wind continuing to ease, we’re confident of holding the fire contained within its current perimeter”, Maunder said.
The fire crews working today were expected to monitor the fire. “They’ll also be reinforcing our containment lines to further ensure the fire is unable to break out.” Maunder said smoke from the vegetation fire had been drifting across Tauranga and the coast. Ash has also been reported falling in the Gate Pa suburb.
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