A busy day of fires in South Canterbury fanned by high winds that also caused power outages has sparked a warning from Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
On Monday firefighters attended vegetation fires at Levels Timaru, Washdyke, Waitohi, Pareora, and two fires at Cave in the Mackenzie District, shift manager Simon Lyford said.
Lyford said firefighters were worried that the blaze at Levels Timaru could have spread rapidly as severe winds battered the region.
They were called to the area about 2.50pm, with crews from Washdyke and tankers from Temuka and St Andrews attending, Lyford said.
Upon arrival, crews found multiple fires in a paddock.
Crews managed to contain the fires, but firefighters were “certainly concerned because of the wind”, Lyford said.
A strong wind warning was in place for the Canterbury High Country until 8pm on Monday.
Lyford said gales could blow the top layers of ash off a fire, revealing embers which could easily be ignited again.
Firefighters had the Levels Timaru fire extinguished quite quickly, but took their time afterwards dampening down the area, including removing logs and making sure there were no embers so the area was as safe as possible, Lyford said.
Crews were taking “every precaution” in the blustery weather, even once the fires were out, Lyford said.
JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Strong gusty winds pull at powerlines on Seadown Rd in South Canterbury on Monday.
The multitude of fires was a reminder for people to check conditions and the extended forecast when planning a controlled burnoff, as well as checking old fires, Lyford said.
Firefighters were increasingly dealing with wildfires sparked by controlled burnoffs or due to old embers, Lyford said.
“Just take all those extra precautions so that we don’t have a really bad summer.”
Monday’s fires followed a massive blaze in Pukaki Downs that started in late September.
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A roadblock on State Highway 80 has been set up while a fire burns at Pukaki.
On Monday, Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Mid-South Canterbury district manager Rob Hands said a fire crew would also continue to monitor the site of the large fire and a crew would be patrolling the ground for the remainder of the week.
The strong wind gusts also caused power outages to more than 4000 properties across the Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie Districts.
Nearly 1900 South Canterbury properties were still without power on Tuesday morning.
Alpine Energy communications and marketing manager Michelle Agnew said the total number of customers affected was 4279 early on Tuesday, and power was restored to 2413 of those customers by mid-morning.
“The crew all met at 7am this morning [Tuesday] and deployed across our network,” Agnew said.
By noon, Agnew said they still couldn’t guarantee restoration times for properties that were affected.
Alpine was “actively planning” to restore power in Glenavy, Ikawai, Morven, Studholme (Waimate), Waihaorunga and Willowbridge by Tuesday evening, if not sooner.
Agnew said outages could continue into Wednesday for properties in Albury, Arno, Arundel, Cannington, Cave, Four Peaks, Geraldine, Geraldine Downs, Gum Tree Flat, Hazelburn, Hunter Hills, Kakahu, Maungati, Orari, Orari Bridge, Orari Gorge, Peel Forest, Rangitata, Taiko, Te-Moana, Totara Valley, Tripp Settlement, Waikakahi and Woodbury.
“We will keep you updated should this change during the day. As we complete inspections in these areas today, we will actively restore power where possible.”
