Who would volunteer to fight forest fires? - Editorial

A firefighter walks through the burnt aftermath of a pine forest in Pōrangahau in Central Hawke's Bay. Photo / Fire and Emergency NZ

THE FACTS

• Severe gales reignited an old farm fire, burning 80ha of pines near Pōrangahau.
• Residents were on alert for evacuation as volunteer firefighters battled the blaze.
• Forestry’s growth increases fire risk, with fire seasons projected to lengthen by 71% by 2040.

In Central Hawke’s Bay, a timely reminder came of a tricky future ahead for rural New Zealand.

What appears to have been an old farm fire, resparked by severe gales, went into 80ha of pines planted for the purpose of supplying Ikea furniture, and ignited.

For two days, every resident of the small town of Pōrangahau had a nervy wait, told by those in charge of fighting the blaze to pack grab-and-go bags in case it was decided they would need to evacuate.

It’s worth noting that large-scale forestry is a relatively new development near Pōrangahau.

For more than a century, the land use on its hills was station farming.

But times change.

Sheep farming isn’t the profit turner it once was, especially with the decline of the wool industry, and there is a clear financial and environmental benefit to planting marginal hill land into trees.

And that’s what’s been done.

Overseas forestry companies have spent nearly $1 billion buying more than 100,000ha of New Zealand farmland over a decade.

If the farmland, inevitably turned to trees, was placed side-by-side it would be larger than the combined urban cores of Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Of course, the land purchased is nowhere near our main centres. It’s in places like Pōrangahau.

Small places, ones lucky to have a fire station of volunteers.

These are dedicated people, but they’re the only line of protection these communities have to prevent a small fire from turning into a disaster.

A report by MS Watt from 2019, cited by Fire and Emergency NZ and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, says the country’s average fire season length is set to extend, particularly in eastern areas with existing high fire risk.

Across New Zealand, the average number of days with ‘very high’ or ‘extreme’ fire risk is projected to increase by 71% by 2040, with substantial variation between regions.

As the commissioner notes, the frequency and intensity of wildfires is already increasing under climate change, and so too is the likelihood that forests are vulnerable to fires, as stressed forests have a higher fire risk and hazard.

No forester wants their trees to go up in flames.

All have strong fire management and prevention plans - $21 million is spent every year by foresters on this - and it’s a very rare thing for a fire to start inside a pine forest.

But that’s cold comfort for volunteer firefighters who understandably don’t fancy the idea of fighting a forest fire for days and weeks on end.

In places like Herbertville, a hop, skip, and a jump southwest, they can’t even find enough volunteers at the moment.

Pōrangahau chief fire officer Peter Hobson said last week he didn’t know what the solution was, but it would take money that Fire and Emergency NZ doesn’t have.

“It’s not just a Pōrangahau issue, it’s the whole of the country, with a lot of forestry gone in and that extra fuel loading is a risk we and the community will have to manage in the future.”

At the moment, it feels like we’re asking a lot of Hobson, and every firefighter of his ilk.