Helicopters with monsoon buckets have been used to fight the massive Kaimaumau fire in the Far North, but a conservationist wants government to buy a firefighting plane. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Helicopters with monsoon buckets have been used to fight the massive Kaimaumau fire in the Far North, but a conservationist wants government to buy a firefighting plane. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Northland conservationist is calling on the Government to invest in a firefighting aircraft to help prevent future environmental disasters such as the Kaimaumau wetland fire.
Dean Baigent-Mercer, Northland conservation manager for Forest & Bird, said the organisation was grateful to firefighters who gave up their Christmas and New Yearbreak to battle the 2400ha wetland blaze, and wished them success in extinguishing the fire as soon as possible.
With such fires expected to become more common he urged the Government to invest in a Bombardier water bomber designed specifically for firefighting.
''With a changing climate and harsher droughts not only might the Kaimaumau fire have been put out in earlier stages but the ability to fight future fires to protect nature and native habitat carbon sinks is going to be essential,'' he said.
The Canadian-built Bombardier 415 — nicknamed ''super scooper'' — is an amphibious aircraft that can scoop up then drop 7000 litres of water at a time.
A Bombardier CL-415 water bomber as used by France's Sécurité Civile. Photo / Gérard Joyon
Fire and Emergency NZ aviation lead Richard McNamara said there was no doubt the Bombardier 415 was an extremely capable aircraft — but with a price tag of about $45 million it was ''horrendously expensive''.
''Also, it's one machine in one place at one time. We have 260 aircraft around New Zealand, helicopters and fixed wing, we can call on. We can put 20 aircraft on a fire in three hours, which few countries can do,'' he said.
New Zealand could call on an Australian Hercules C-130 water bomber capable of carrying 12,000 litres but once loaded it could not take off from Kaitaia.
Instead it would have to operate from Whenuapai, reducing the number of drops per day to just four.
At $30,000 an hour the Hercules didn't come cheap either.
Ultimately, however, aircraft could only put out the surface fire — no plane could reach the peat burning underground at Kaimaumau.
The only thing that could do that was ''boots on the ground and heavy machinery'' or the next cyclone with a 150mm dump of rain, McNamara said.
Fernbird chicks photographed on December 20 in the Fleming Wetland of Hawke's Bay. Fernbirds at Kaimaumau hatch around the same time. Photo / Jorge Jimenez
Baigent-Mercer said the Kaimaumau wetland was home to threatened species such as the Australasian bittern, geckos and native orchids.
The fire coincided with the breeding season for rare native birds such as the fernbird or matata, whose chicks would have been on the nest and unable to escape.
Fernbird populations were listed as declining and the Kaimaumau fire would only worsen their plight, he said.
Peat wetlands, such as Kaimaumau, were New Zealand's best natural carbon sinks.
''As peat burns not only are wildlife and their habitat lost, but a large volume of carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere.''
In the past, before land drainage began, Kaimaumau was about two-thirds bigger than it is today. It was still the largest wetland in Northland, Baigent-Mercer said.
Meanwhile, more than 60 firefighters continued to work on the fire yesterday.
They were supported by nine bulldozers and diggers, and five helicopters, working to fight the 2385ha fire that has been burning since December 18.
"We have beefed up resources and made our crews aware of how the wind change may impact the firefighting effort," incident controller Nigel Dravitzki said.
Firefighters have also continued their focus on several strategic points around the fire ground.
"There are still a few areas with some significant hot spots. We want to make sure those areas have strong containment lines to reduce the risk of a fire spreading as much as possible," he said.
Also yesterday, about 70 community members living around the edge of the Waiharara fire gathered at the Wharemaru Marae o Kaimaumau.
"During the meeting members of the Incident Management Team, support agencies, Mayor John Carter and tangata whenua spent time talking to the community about what we're doing to fight this fire and the next steps," Dravitzki said.
