Whanganui wildfire: Firefighters continue to battle large forestry blaze near Parikino

Helicopters in the air and firefighters on the ground are back fighting a large forest wildfire in hilly terrain inland from Whanganui that has been burning out of control overnight.

Fire and Emergency NZ said this morning four ground crews supported by five helicopters and heavy machinery are working on the fire in the Lismore forest near Parikino.

In a Facebook post last night, Manawatū-Whanganui Fire and Emergency said the fire, which had taken hold of pine trees and vegetation across several gullies of SH4, was spreading into standing pines.

Fire and Emergency assistant commander Renee Potae said this morning the fire is burning on the forest floor and the area affected by the fire is around 100ha, with several fires burning within the perimeter.

“We will be working hard to get on top of it before the heat of the day when the fire behaviour will be more active.”

Fire and Emergency said ground operations were scaled back overnight “because the terrain is too steep for active firefighting in the dark”.

“One crew has been patrolling through the night and extinguishing spot fires on the access road.”

Fire and Emergency’s Incident Management Team is working closely with the forestry company that manages the forest.

No properties in the vicinity had been evacuated.

Earlier, four helicopters conducted an aerial operation while nine fire trucks and tankers, along with a command unit with operational support vehicles, battled the blaze on the ground.

Fire crews from Whanganui, Manawatū and Marton were at the scene.

Yesterday, residents living on the fringe of the blaze were watching closely and preparing to leave immediately should the fire threaten their homes.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen yesterday evening billowing high into the sky across the burning vegetation.

One rural resident said the wind had been stronger earlier and “we had ash falling around our house”.

“It seems to have settled a bit now. I can see three helicopters working,” Joni Reynolds said.

The resident said they had a plan to evacuate.

“The neighbours have been in touch, we will just keep an eye on it.”

Another resident who lives 20 minutes from Fordell told the Herald the fire “must be pretty big if I could see it from my house”.

Fire and Emergency earlier urged motorists to give plenty of room on the local roads for the big response.

“If you’re driving in the area, please make way for emergency vehicles, as a large number of fire trucks are heading to the site.

“At this stage, there is no indication that structures are at risk.

“We’ll update this post when we have more information about the fire and any impact on the community.”

It comes after Fire and Emergency enforced a total fire ban on open-air fires and fireworks, including paper lanterns, in the Ahuriri-Heretaunga and Tukituki East zones of the Hawke’s Bay.

Difficult start to summer as fires erupt

In January, 11 tankers and one helicopter responded to a similar large vegetation fire in Parikino.

The latest incident marks another challenging start to the summer fire season for central North Island crews.

Firefighters have already tackled two large blazes in nearby Tongariro National Park: last week, an “accidental mishap” ignited a 296ha fire that was swiftly contained; and last month, a larger outbreak prompted evacuations and took several days to control.