THANK YOU: Volunteer fire crew, mainly from Featherston fire station, surround Wellington newlyweds Tom Knobloch and Micaela Yee at the Brackenridge Country Retreat and Spa near Martinborough. The crew, plus others from Martinborough and Carterton, were called out to battle a tree and scrub fire on the estate's southern boundary.PHOTOS/ANDREW BONALLACK WTA080314ABFIRE02
A wedding party and a grateful estate manager have heaped praise on the fast response of volunteer fire crews, who halted an out-of-control grass fire heading towards a Martinborough wedding reception.
Fire crews from Carterton, Martinborough and Featherston were called to an olive grove on the south boundary of Brackenridge
Country Retreat and Spa on Saturday afternoon, where trees and scrub had caught alight.
Several crews had to backtrack to Brackenridge as a light southerly began pushing the fire quickly across the grassy field towards the buildings, where a wedding ceremony had started.
With water limited to tanker supply, crews used beaters to halt the grass fire, while others extinguished the trees and stumps along the fenceline.
Brackenridge manager Cathie Morison said it was "scary" and is grateful for the fast response. "If the southerly had come as predicted, it would have gone straight through our lodges," she said.