Fire near Bluff 'could burn for weeks'

Multiple fire crews and appliances from as far as Glenorchy and six helicopters with monsoon buckets are battling a 1000 hectare scrub blaze on Department of Conservation land at Awarua Bay near Bluff.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand community readiness and recovery office Sally Chesterfield said the fire had started about 5.45pm on Saturday evening and quickly escalated out of control as it was fuelled by wind on land parched by the Southland drought.

Attempts to douse the fire had to be abandoned at darkness, but it was monitored overnight.

Six helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets attacked the fire’s main front from daylight this morning, bringing the fire under enough control to allow ground crews to enter the burn site at 8.45am.

The helicopters were able to quickly recharge the monsoon buckets from a nearby creek on the fire’s west boundary.

A slight shift in the wind direction pushed the fire back on itself a little, giving fire-fighters the opportunity to bring it further under control.

Ms Chesterfield said it would not be an easy fire to properly extinguish, as the ground beneath was peat bog which would allow the fire to become deep seated.

“What happens is the fire will flash across the top of the manuka and scrub and then burn down into the peat. The low water table at the moment means it will burn deeper than usual which will make it a lot harder to put out. It could burn for weeks, if not months underground and then flare up again later on.”

Drought has been declared in Southland, and the region has been under a total fire ban since March 29. 

Neighbouring farmer Roland and Moyra Boersen had lost about three hectares of farmland to the fire, but there had not been any harm to buildings or animals.

It was the second time a fire had ripped through the area in the 14 years the couple had been living on the property.

Southern Honey owner Grant Fryer also had more than 80 hives nestled among the manuka bush. He believes the hives had been saved and there would be no loss to this year’s honey harvest.

But the harvest for the next few years would be affected as it would take time for the manuka to regenerate before the bees would be pollinating it, he said.

Ms Chesterfield said police as well as fire investigators were already looking at how the fire was started.

Mr Boersen said a camper van had been seen in the area around the time the fire started, but did not know if it was connected to the event.

 - Toni McDonald