Firefighters pictured at work dampening down hotspots from the bushfires that blazed through the Port Hills overlooking Christchurch. Photo / Alan Gibson
Fighting the Port Hills fires cost more than $4.5million.
Two fires, several kilometres apart, started in early February this year; two days later they had combined. Helicopter pilot and ex-SAS soldier Steve Askin died when his chopper crashed trying to fight the fires. Nine houses were destroyed and two were
significantly damaged. Hundreds of people were evacuated.
Department of Conservation spokesman Andy Roberts said DoC contributed more than $3.5m in operational costs and $1m in staff and other internal costs. This amounted to about half of last year's firefighting costs of $8.7m.
"The Department supplied more than 130 fully trained rural firefighters, including fire behaviour experts, air attack managers and sector leaders during the fires, which started in February and burned for two months.
"If we add in time spent on aerial mapping, incident planning and other background support roles, that would come to more than 11,000 hours of staff time, some of whom were on duty for up to 15 hours a day. This all amounts to about 50 per cent of the total costs incurred on the Port Hills fires, which destroyed some 1660ha."
