Port Hills Wildfires

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tdgeek

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#208530 15-Feb-2017 22:53

There is no thread on this.

Brownlee was right No state of emergency till it was too far gone. Hopeless. Yesterday it was growing first thing, went right down at midday then took off. The main front has been moving east. At 7 this morning it was another valley over, and low, bit still just a real problem scrub fire. But it went wild today, very wild, and it wasn't till early evening its a state of emergency. No one outside the councils can act until then. The choppers are doing a great job, as are the crop dusters who are spraying retardant. But there needs to be 50 not 15.

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#1720913 15-Feb-2017 22:57

It appears that the north easter today caught them a bit of gaurd

Also having to bench the choppers overnight does not help, but is completely understandable

I am surprised that we haven't had more fires over the years as the hills have always seemed ripe for a scrub fire

Will be interesting to see were/how these started - I am leaning towards arson but have no actually proof or knowledge

Clint

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#1720916 15-Feb-2017 23:00

Apparently the rural fire fighters contained it on Tuesday and then went to bed. With the plan to put it out in the morning

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tdgeek

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#1720919 15-Feb-2017 23:08

joker97: Apparently the rural fire fighters contained it on Tuesday and then went to bed. With the plan to put it out in the morning

Welcome to New Zealand

It was very much contained yesterday. Small and smouldering. They don't go to bed, but it grew this morning. Over the morning it grew exponentially. Should have been an emergency early afternoon, then extra help can be forthcoming. As Gerry B said, by law, no one can touch the fire except the councils, until that emergency is declared. I guess no one wanted to make that call in case it was a false alarm?

clinty

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#1720920 15-Feb-2017 23:09

joker97: Apparently the rural fire fighters contained it on Tuesday and then went to bed. With the plan to put it out in the morning

Welcome to New Zealand

That is a bit too harsh

Rural would have stayed onsite overnight, fighting what the could safely. No choppers etc at night time

"Contained" is not out, and things that are contained can become out of control easily enough

That being said I am sure some lessons are going to be learned from this, the same as we learnt some from the quake

Clint

tdgeek

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#1720924 15-Feb-2017 23:10

clinty: It appears that the north easter today caught them a bit of gaurd

Also having to bench the choppers overnight does not help, but is completely understandable

I am surprised that we haven't had more fires over the years as the hills have always seemed ripe for a scrub fire

Will be interesting to see were/how these started - I am leaning towards arson but have no actually proof or knowledge

Clint

I heard today that the Tai Tapu one, the one that started in a carpark was not arson. There was some fault. And that the main one, was. Might be chinese whispers, who knows.

tdgeek

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#1720925 15-Feb-2017 23:14

clinty:
joker97: Apparently the rural fire fighters contained it on Tuesday and then went to bed. With the plan to put it out in the morning

Welcome to New Zealand

That is a bit too harsh

Rural would have stayed onsite overnight, fighting what the could safely. No choppers etc at night time

"Contained" is not out, and things that are contained can become out of control easily enough

That being said I am sure some lessons are going to be learned from this, the same as we learnt some from the quake

Clint

I agree.

I can see a lot of finger pointing post fire. But in many ways thats unfair. This is a new event. I lived on the farm under the Kiwi for many years. This is unexpected. We can't prepare everyone for a quake everywhere in NZ, floods everywhere, fires everywhere, its not possible. That wont change, apart from any shortcomings, such as leaving the S of E till its WAYYY out of control and fierce, and many hours after that.

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tdgeek

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#1720929 15-Feb-2017 23:44

40 houses destroyed.

Djmixerdomo

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#1720938 15-Feb-2017 23:57

tdgeek: 40 houses destroyed.

I watched about half a dozen of them on Worsleys Rd burn down from my place.

You get a really weird feeling while watching someone else's house burn down, kind of surreal, like "this is actually happening".

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Pumpedd

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#1720949 16-Feb-2017 00:18

I believe the whole Civil Defense Organisation is due a major review and re-organisation. Brownlee wasnt happy with certain parts of the response to the Kaikoura earthquakes and Tsunami alerts.

clinty

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#1720954 16-Feb-2017 00:56

tdgeek: 40 houses destroyed.

This has been revise down to 4-6, as at midnight, incorrect information apparently

Clint

tdgeek

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#1720971 16-Feb-2017 01:30

Djmixerdomo:

tdgeek: 40 houses destroyed.

I watched about half a dozen of them on Worsleys Rd burn down from my place.

You get a really weird feeling while watching someone else's house burn down, kind of surreal, like "this is actually happening".

Two or three houses have been destroyed on Worsley Spur, in addition to four burned down earlier today. This corrects an earlier statement which said 40 homes were lost.

As a kid I lived at Cashmere Estate, a farm covering the centre hill as you look from Sign of the Kiwi, and the hillsides either side. We went to Takahe tonight, from what I can see in the dark, its all burnt. I assume the other side has as well as thats on the Worsley Spur side. It looks like a doco of a cooling planet

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tdgeek

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#1720972 16-Feb-2017 01:31

Pumpedd:

I believe the whole Civil Defense Organisation is due a major review and re-organisation. Brownlee wasnt happy with certain parts of the response to the Kaikoura earthquakes and Tsunami alerts.

I hope so. Events like these are rare, but it cant be hard to bed down many many of all possible event types, and work through processes.

MikeB4

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#1720984 16-Feb-2017 07:22

joker97: Apparently the rural fire fighters contained it on Tuesday and then went to bed. With the plan to put it out in the morning

Welcome to New Zealand

That is harsh and incorrect, rural firefighters do it very hard, put their lives on the line and are volunteers.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1720989 16-Feb-2017 08:03

Let's see what the investigations conclude.

I'm sure everyone who were and are there are giving it all, risking their lives, one sacrificed his life and we are all grateful.

But i just wonder how much of a she'll be right was involved in making decisions vs let's get all the help we can get just to be safe.

MikeB4

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#1720990 16-Feb-2017 08:11

Wild fires on coastal mixed vegetation hills are very unpredictable. Can be very dry and the terrain, ambient temperature changes and variable wind changes make it very difficult to manage.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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