Last month’s massive Mount Creighton fire is likely to have cost about $400,000 to fight, which can’t be recovered.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand risk reduction adviser Mark Mawhinney says the investigation’s yet to be finalised, but it’s likely the blaze,
which destroyed about 230 hectares, was started by an ember from a ‘‘burn pile’’.
The farmer had been burning piles of material, including manuka slab, which had been cut down at the time, Mawhinney says, and it appears a stray ember landed in nearby vegetation, and spread at pace.
‘‘The farmer’s taken reason ably good steps, and sometimes these things happen, but we’ll certainly try to learn as much as we can from it.’’
At its peak, eight helicopters and four ground crews tried to battle the blaze, with flames reaching up to 30 metres, forcing the closure of the Queenstown-Glenorchy Road.
‘‘We couldn’t touch it,’’ Mawhinney says.
‘‘We had eight helicopters on it, and we couldn’t touch it.
‘‘We had to let the main front run and once it got through all that heavier fuel and calmed down a bit, we were able to do something with it.’’
Crews fought the fire for about four days after it initially broke out on October 7.
While previously Fenz would have had avenues for cost recovery, following a change in legislation that was no longer possible.
Mawhinney: ‘‘The money’s one thing, but it’s also a lot of volunteers, and employers of our volunteers, who do have to give up a bit of their time … We are very conscious of, and very grateful to, all our volunteers and employers for that.’’
