Fighters across the South were kept busy on Saturday as hot, dry and windy weather made for ideal fire conditions.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) acting shift manager Daniel Reilly said there had been a series of rural fires, particularly in northern Southland, in the dry, windy conditions on Saturday.
At the peak of a forest blaze northeast of Lumsden, the "substantial fire" had been 300m long and had involved an area of thousands of square metres.
Firefighters were first alerted at 11.32am, and at the fire’s peak, 10 fire appliances and water tankers, including from the Lumsden Volunteer Fire Brigade, were battling the blaze, Mr Reilly said. At one point on Saturday afternoon, two helicopters with monsoon buckets were put on standby because of the dry conditions, after a fire was reported in the Cape Wanbrow area, overlooking Oamaru Harbour at 2.16pm.
The fire was quickly extinguished and the helicopters did not need to be deployed, Mr Reilly said.
Mike Harrison, deputy principal rural fire officer for Waitaki, said the fires were reflecting increasingly dry conditions and other risk factors, including a big increase in the amount of dry grass.
Earlier periods of alternately wet and drier weather had resulted in increased grass growth and although farmers had done a good job of removing much of it and using it for feed, the remaining grass was adding to overall risks, he said.
He urged greater fire safety awareness and said mowing grass was best done early in the morning, when conditions were more humid and less likely to start a fire.
People should also avoid parking hot vehicles in areas where there was tall dry grass, because this could also accidentally start fires, he said.
A Fenz spokesman said the wet weather across Otago and Southland yesterday had reduced the risk of fire.
