Helicopters key in collaborative fighting effort: area commander

Ground teams have been finishing off a few minor hot spots found from the large vegetation fire at Port Awanui, which as of yesterday had not yet been declared fully out. Picture supplied

Firefighters were back at the site of the major vegetation fire at Port Awanui near Tikitiki yesterday and it may be a day or two before they will be able to declare it definitely out.

The blaze started in driftwood on the nearby beach on Monday morning and spread during the day, overnight Monday and into Tuesday — fanned dramatically by strong onshore winds.

It covered about 10 hectares of beachfront and the hill behind, where it got into pines and ancient pōhutukawa.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand area fire commander Peter Clark said they had a small number of firefighters from the Department of Conservation and Ngā Whenua Rāhui on the fire ground yesterday.

“It’s not out yet. We carried out a reconnaissance flight yesterday morning and found some more hot spots using thermal imaging gear and through checks made by people on the ground,” Mr Clark said.

“They were only minor hot spots but they have to be dealt with.

“Once that work’s done we are hoping that will be the end of it.

But it will take a day or two yet before we are able to definitely say that the fire is out.”

Mr Clark said a wildfire investigator spent Wednesday looking over the fire ground to try to ascertain how it started.

“His report has not yet come through, but we have established that it started on the beachfront.”

It has been reported that the fire appeared to have been started by locals disgruntled at the ongoing delays in getting storm debris removed from the beach.

A meeting at the beach on Wednesday confirmed the clean-up of the remaining driftwood debris would start within two weeks.

Mr Clark said fighting the fire had been a “real collaborative effort”.

“It involved some local landowners working in conjunction with FENZ, along with helicopter companies from Gisborne and Galatea in the Bay of Plenty.

“We could not have done it without those helicopters,” he said.

Despite the rapid spread of the fire through dry undergrowth, FENZ has no plans to introduce any fire restrictions.

“We are not looking at that at this stage, which means bonfires and cooking fires on the beaches remain OK, providing they are put out properly by the people who light them, before they leave the beach,” Mr Clark said.

“The fire risk across the region is currently moderate to low.”

The cost of fighting the Port Awanui fire has yet to be worked out, but Mr Clark said it would be sizeable.