Fires burn in heat and wind

Hot and windy conditions made life difficult for firefighters across Otago yesterday as they responded to a rash of fires.

Dunedin, North Otago, Clutha and Central Otago fire crews all sprang into action as high winds and temperatures caused multiple fires yesterday.

The first call to a fire came at 11.30am.

Crews from several Central Otago brigades went to a vegetation fire on State Highway 8 at Roxburgh and two helicopters were also sent.

The fire was estimated to have covered about 1.5 hectares.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said a command centre from Dunedin and crews from Roxburgh, Millers Flat, Dunstan and Alexandra attended.

Crews from other Central Otago brigades and two helicopters also responded to a vegetation fire in Wright Rd, just south of Roxburgh on the other side of the Clutha River, in the early afternoon.

Assistant Commander Bobby Lamont posted on Facebook that strong winds made conditions challenging.

By 3.30pm, both fires had been brought under control and crews were dampening down hotspots.

In an update about 3.45pm, a Fenz spokesman said firefighters were also working to contain a fire in forestry slash on Taieri Mouth Rd, at Kuri Bush.

That fire was reported about 1.40pm.

Shortly afterwards, a scrub fire was reported between Lawrence and Waitahuna.

Local crews had that blaze under control by 3pm.

Just after 3pm, crews were called to a report of another slash fire spreading into trees in View St, Balclutha.

As at 3.20pm they were working to bring that fire under control, taking water directly from the Clutha River.

A reporter at the scene of the first Roxburgh fire said it was immediately opposite the Roxburgh Golf Club.

She could see two firefighters spraying foam on a hillside that appeared to have already been burned.

"There’s not a lot of flames to see, there’s smoke," she said.

One firefighter at the scene said wind was their "real concern".

As crews got those fires under control, another report of a vegetation fire came at 3.45pm.

Crews were called to a grass fire near Bardsey St, in Allanton and firefighters from Mosgiel and Outram were working to contain it.

A Fenz spokesman said eight trucks attended, five of which were tankers.

Crews had the fire under control by 6.50pm, he said.

Five minutes after that fire was reported, a vegetation fire broke out in North Oamaru.

A grass fire had reached a size of 100m by 20m and five trucks were attending in an effort to control it.

By 5.50pm, crews at the scene had it under control and extinguished.

"By the standards of the day it doesn’t quite register to the other [fires]," he said.

The MetService had a strong wind watch in place for Dunedin, Clutha, southern Southland and Stewart Island from 9am to 8pm yesterday, predicting winds gusting to nearly 100kmh.

While fires kept Otago crews busy, a huge fire in the Canterbury high country near Castle Hill Village spread across more than 500ha throughout the afternoon.

Crews worked in strong winds to contain the blaze.

Village were encouraged to evacuate as a spreading scrub fire at Bridge Hill continued to burn out of control.

Incident commander Brian Keown said it was possible, but not probable, the blaze would reach the village overnight.

While not an evacuation order, he said it would be easier to leave now than in the middle of the night.