At least 20 homes in the village have been decimated by the blaze. Photo / Newshub
A small alpine village in the Mackenzie Basin has been left blackened and charred after an out-of-control fire tore through the area, razing homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people.
Fire and Emergency NZ Incident Controller Graeme Still says the Lake Ohau blaze remains "very much active" tonight after ripping through an area of about 1608ha.
At least 20 houses have been damaged or destroyed in the idyllic spot - which now resembles a "war zone" - where the fire sparked in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A further six households north of Lake Ohau Village were evacuated this evening in case a sudden, swift wind change threatened the homes.
"I've got to be honest, it's not looking good," Still said.
"There are just structures totalled to the ground. It's black, it's awful. Quite a bit of it is razed."
It's one of three large-scale fires in the South Island, two in the Waitaki District.
Four fire appliances will remain in the area overnight.
The 11 helicopters battling the blaze were stood down at 8.30pm and will lift off again at first light.
"Eight ground crews will also be deployed to the fire front tomorrow to recommence the ground attack," Fire and Emergency's Incident Controller Steve Jones said.
Late this afternoon Still said the fire was tracking south into grassy farmland and land owned by the Department of Conservation.
"At the moment, we've got a handle on it [the fire], but it's got quite a wide fire front," Still said.
An Urban Search and Rescue team was being sent to the scene to assess the village.
"All residents are accounted for and we will have crews in the village overnight in case of any flare-ups," Still said.
Due to the high winds it has so far been unsafe for residents to return to their homes to assess damage.
"I am very mindful of how upsetting it is for the residents. Their safety is our main concern at this time."
Support was being provided for evacuated residents, who were jolted awake shortly after 3am by an evacuation siren sounding, Still said.
"People are very uncertain, they don't know which of their properties have been compromised, it's quite sad."
Crews were working to steer the fire away from other structures and critical infrastructure, including the main power lines servicing Queenstown and Wanaka.
Firefighters will tonight try to protect structures in the village that weren't yet compromised, Still said.
"It's very unsafe to go in that area at the moment," he said.
"There is a lot of debris flying around, a lot of trees compromised, roofing iron and bits and pieces."
The high winds meant the fire could not yet be contained, but Still said winds were expected to drop to 30km/h or lower this evening, giving firefighters a brief reprieve before picking up again tomorrow.
Still said the strong winds made it very challenging for pilots to fight the blaze from the air.
"It's very hard on our pilots and very hard on our crews. At some times during the day we had to sit the helicopters down because of the winds," he said.
As well as the fire crews and helicopters, two diggers and a grader were working to create firebreaks to help safeguard critical infrastructure.
š„ UPDATE 4PM: FIRE NEAR LAKE OHAU VILLAGE pic.twitter.com/rMJaej6hbK
— Fire and Emergency New Zealand (@FireEmergencyNZ) October 4, 2020
It's believed the fire was sparked by an electrical arc from power lines during the many strong wind gusts which have hammered the area.
But Geoff Douch, chief executive of Network Waitaki, which supplies power to the area, said it was too early to tell what might've sparked the blaze.
He said there had been no reports of downed or damaged power lines that he knew of.
"Last night we had extreme winds in the area, an unprecedented level of winds," he said.
"We've had to isolate power out of the whole Ohau area, for safety and so that fire services can safely put out the fire."
Power would remain off overnight in the area, he said.
"We will restore power to the area as soon as we are sure the network is safe to turn on again and when we get the all-clear from fire service," he said.
"It is a terrible tragedy. It's had a huge impact on the community in Ohau and our thoughts are with them."
Network Waitaki's resources in the area had also been damaged by the fire, but the extent of the damage wasn't yet clear.
Douch said the company was assisting FENZ in its investigation into the cause of the blaze.
A large forest fire also broke out this morning in the settlement of Livingstone, about 30km northwest of Oamaru.
FENZ said it was alerted at 3.15am to the pine forest blaze on MacKenzie Rd. A number of homes have been evacuated.
Sixteen crews, including a command team from Dunedin, were trying to bring the fire under control.
And it will be an anxious few days for Lake Ohau homeowners, who are unlikely to have any reprieve from the warm and gusty weather until Tuesday, MetService says.
MetService duty forecaster Tui McInnes said the winds around Ohau would strengthen tomorrow with some "rain spillover" set to hit the area only on Tuesday.
"The weather that is there now is more or less going to stay as it is for the rest of [Sunday]. The wind has eased off a little bit but it will re-strengthen as we go into tomorrow."
He said the dry, windy weather was caused by the large high plonked over the North Island which was preventing a front move up from the south which was being hit by flooding.
"Really most of the South Island will see an impressionable increase in wind again ... so tomorrow is a clearer day with stronger winds but then a front marches over the South Island on Tuesday and that will bring a bit of rain, especially to the McKenzie Basin.
"It's mainly rain in the West Coast, but there will be some spillover coming over the alps. It will also ease off the wind."
Aerial footage shows several rows of homes at Lake Ohau have been destroyed.
And the fire was continuing to spread southwest early on Sunday afternoon, fanned by strong winds. It is one of three major fires in the South Island today, with 16 helicopters helping fight the flames.
The Ohau area had mean wind speeds of about 45km/h the past 12-18 hours but gusts of up to 90km/h had also whipped through.
Mt Cook had recorded gusts of 131km/h today, he said.
Hugh Spiers, owner of the Barn at Killin B&B, is one of about 200 people gathered at Twizel's events centre after the major blaze started about 3am near Lake Ohau Rd.
"It was like the movies. It was really, really scary. The flames were big and smokey, thick with heat, there was no time to even take a photo," Spiers told the Herald.
He received a phone call at 3am warning them to get out urgently.
"We couldn't get out our normal way, we had to cross-country through a fire break."
Spiers has since reconnected with his father and all his family and guests have been accounted for.
He has owned his bed and breakfast for four years and said he had never seen anything like the fire he witnessed this morning.
"I have seen forest fires and the devastation they can cause, but this was way more frightening because there were people involved."
Lake Ohau village resident David Stone he'd lost his home and had nothing left but the clothes on his back.
Stone said he had driven around the town and estimated only 15 of about 70 houses in the village were still standing.
He earlier told RNZ he had neighbours who I've got near me a couple that's lived there for 27 years. Their place, two along for us, is probably gone, well I think it has gone.
"Sort of looking over the smoke that's coming down towards Twizel, it's very prominent to my left, it's been moving around - it's peculiar."
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher had spoken to a number of devastated homeowners.
"They are pretty stoic about the whole situation."
Kircher said there were still people who had been evacuated north and weren't able to get out of the area but they were safe.
"The fire is still roaring - there are areas of pines where it would be very difficult to manage and then there is open space land which although might move quickly is not going to be as dangerous."
A Twizel local, who didn't want to be named, told the Herald she could see plumes of smoke stretching across the southern horizon from Lake Ohau out to the main highway.
"The smoke has been constant all day and rising all the time," she said.
"There was a lot of smoke making its way through Ohau Station, it was racing through all of the tussocks."
Waitaki Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Controller Peter Muldrew said there were currently 112 registrations of people with the welfare centre operating from the Twizel Events Centre.
Muldrew said the EOC was working with multiple agencies to support those affected.
Twizel resident Matt Gunn said many residents were still unaware of whether their homes were still standing on Sunday afternoon.
Smoke was still pouring out from the scene and the focus was now moving on to farmers who were frantically trying to move stock out of harm's way.
"They think that the fire will continue to burn down to the Waitaki Valley so it's pretty serious."
He said it was still burning toward the Ohau Ski Field and along the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail.
Assistant area commander Stephen Butler said it was a "pretty devastating" scene.
"Fortunately, the village had an emergency activation plan, they had a siren that they set off really early which let everyone know they had an issue.
"There was a stream of cars leaving the village when our first appliances arrived at 4am.
No one had been reported missing and there have been no reports of injuries.
An Urban Search and Rescue crew was taking drones to the scene to help with the firefighting operation.
A man has been taken to hospital after being found with an injured leg.