More firefighters are being drafted in from around the South Island this morning as the battle against a massive scrub fire in the Lake Grasmere area of the Waimakariri Gorge continues.
Firefighters in the air and on the ground fought all day yesterday to control the blaze centred on Mt Horrible.
By late last night they had the fire partly under control but for safety reasons firefighters had to be withdrawn as darkness fell.
The blaze yesterday forced the closure of the main highway between Canterbury and the West Coast through Arthurs Pass and the evacuation of the area.
Fanned by high winds and spurred on by temperatures that hit 30 degrees in Christchurch and the high 20s inland, the fire blazed across more than 300ha by the end of the day.
At that stage Fire Service crews from around Canterbury and Department of Conservation staff were fighting the fire assisted by seven helicopters and two fixed wing aircraft.
Helicopters dragged up water from the Waimak while Fletcher top-dressing aircraft flew along the steep mountainside fire face dropping purple oxygen-sucking chemicals.
But the blaze chewed its way through many hectares of sub alpine vegetation and grass and some beech forest. It burned up the side of Mt Horrible and over into reserve land near Craigieburn.
Rural Fire manager John Barnes said the fire is expected to take another couple of days to extinguish.
The National Rural Fire Authority has banned all burning in the Canterbury area.
- CHRISTCHURCH STAR
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