Blaze engulfs forest west of Palmerston North
Six helicopters and more than 50 personnel have been battling the largest forest fire Manawatu¯ has seen in five years.
Crews rushed to Manawatu¯ Tangimoana forest in Oroua Downs, about 30 kilometres west of Palmerston North, just after 6pm on Thursday after the vegetation sparked alight.
Smoke filled the sky shading Hima¯ tangi and Tangimoana, as helicopters dumped thousands of litres of water on the forestry block just off Lake Rd. Firefighters cut fire breaks through the rough yesterday.
Firefighters were forced to watch the inferno, starting in 5-year-old trees about 2 metres high, spread to older trees over Thursday night as an external attack would have been too dangerous, principal rural fire officer Bradley Shanks told Stuff.
‘‘It’s still uncontrolled, but we’re making really good headway with the air assets and the ground crews are just starting to fight the fire,’’ he said yesterday.
Heavy machinery was used to cut fire breaks into the dirt overnight to halt the spread of flames, but the blaze had scorched through 40ha of plantation by 7am yesterday. This had expanded to 45 hectares at 11.30am and was 90 per cent under control by 2.30pm.
Soldiers and air crew from the army and air force were also called in to help with fire breaks.
It’s unclear how the fire started, but an investigator specialising in wildfires had been called in, Shanks said.
He expected firefighters to be at the scene for at least seven days ensuring the fire was completely subdued, with firefighters working to create blackout lines 10 metres deep around the fire perimeter.
‘‘We are really drying off a lot now. We need people to check old burns they’ve had in the past month, and don’t burn if you don’t have to,’’ Shanks said. ‘‘Hold off until April.’’