Nick Watson's role as divisional commander included co-ordinating crews and heavy machinery to put out underground hot spots.
Ruapehu emergency management officer Nick Watson has been in action behind the scenes and on the frontline of the Nelson rural fire response.
Watson spent two weeks as part of the team working in the region, initially assisting in the Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) where the response to the fire
was planned and co-ordinated and as a liaison officer between Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and Civil Defence.
"After being on the ground for a few days, I was asked by the incident controller to work as a divisional commander out in the field where I had responsibility for three sectors in the Redwood Valley," Watson said.
"In this role I was working on the fire front, co-ordinating the response of fire crews and heavy machinery to put out hot spots.
"With the Nelson area being as dry as it is the fire can continue to burn and smoulder underground, feeding off tree roots which presents a real difficulty in being able to locate these areas and put them out.
