Keeping an eye out for forest dangers

As the region dries out Gail Olding spends her days on Rainbow Mountain with binoculars in hand looking for any trace of fires or smoke.

As little rain falls and with a drought declared across the region, the Timberlands fire spotter is being extra vigilant along with co-worker Barry Cook, who helped avert a major forest fire at Waiotapu this month by ringing it in early.

She spends 11 hours a day looking through one window at a time scouring for signs of smoke which she then determines whether it's a fire or dust.

Her area is 50km in all directions surrounding the mountain, which is about 30km south of Rotorua. The view is impressive with at least five lakes popping between mountains, trees and farmland in the line of vision.

"You have to concentrate and watch any smoke you see. You study it and see if it moves. You have to really focus. You have to determine if it's a fire or something else like trucks moving along a forestry road or cows kicking up the dust as they are walked to the cow shed ... you have to really focus. Vehicles or animals - everything is making dust at the moment. When you have 200 or 300 cows walking slowly they can create quite a dust storm ... the haze can be a big problem too. The light can play tricks on your eyes."

When she detects a fire she charts its co-ordinates, determines the exact spot and rings it through to Timberlands firefighters.

"You have to focus and work quickly because the wind can pick up a fire and disperse it. It can be very stressful because a fire can go from nothing to uncontrolled in a matter of 10 minutes. It can burn through quite a few acres. You don't have long to help stop a potential disaster."

Timberlands Fire and Security manager Evan Rarere said there were five Timberlands lookout towers in the region with three in the Kaingaroa Forest. Staff were currently on high alert with a helicopter based at Rainbow Mountain every afternoon.

With tinder dry conditions, a cigarette butt thrown out of a car window could wipe out hectares of bush and forestry, Mr Rarere said.