Massive scrub fire at Arthur's Pass 27th January 2015

[JennyLeez]

Ten helicopters will this morning battle a massive scrub fire near Arthur's Pass.

Reports of the blaze were first received at 2.30pm and the fire had spread to almost 500 hectares near State Highway 73, Southern fire communications shift manager Mau Barbara said.

"There was eight helicopters involved yesterday at the peak of the fire and I've been told that they're looking at hitting it today with another 10."

A skeleton ground crew worked to stop the fire spreading last night, said.

more:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/fires/news/article.cfm?c_id=202&objectid=11392302
NZ Herald.co.nz

Arthur's Pass is well down in Rainfall for January which has not helped prevent any sort of fire or the spreading there of.
2013 648.0mm
2014 486.0mm
2015  81.1

http://www.localweather.net.nz/smf/nzlwf-member-historical-data

Look at Castle Hills web cam. I better go tell him I am pinching his photos now 
http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=ICANTERB95

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[JennyLeez]

Video TV3

http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/canterbury-scrub-fire-continues-to-burn-2015012705#axzz3PyHjw3Yn

Nearly a dozen aircraft are trying to "stomp" on a massive scrub fire in the South Island's Arthur's Pass.
The fire at Flock Hill Station in the Craigieburn Forest Park covered about 500 hectares this morning after starting alongside State Highway 73 yesterday afternoon and started burning to the east.
It is burning through thick growth of wilding pine, manuka scrub, tussock and some beech forest, making it too dangerous for firefighters to battle it on the ground.
"We are filling the sky with helicopters and fixed wings. We are trying to stomp on the #&@% thing before the wind arrives," the Department of Conservation's Bruce Janes told NZ Newswire.
Temperatures are expected to rise to the mid-20s today with light winds and the area is tinder-dry.
The conditions combined to create a perfect storm for the fire overnight, which has seen it expand from 50ha to about 500ha.
They hoped to contain the fire during the day and have it controlled by night time, Mr Janes said.
"Then it will take many days to kill it."

Seven helicopters and four planes had been brought in to battle the blaze, and they were filling their monsoon buckets from Lake Pearson and Craigieburn Stream.
Hundreds of cattle and sheep have had to be moved.
Castle Hill village, where about 40 people lived, was ready for evacuation.
Farmers say Canterbury is the driest it has been in a decade. However, there were no other reports of fires in the South Island.
The New Zealand Transport Agency says motorists should avoid State Highway 73, which runs through Arthur's Pass.
One lane is open today after the road was closed yesterday because of the fire.
However, motorists can expect traffic to be controlled.
Rail services are not affected as the line is some distance from the fire.

[APNP]

My local fire crew (Arthur's Pass) where first on the scene yesterday, and immediately ordered a minimum of 4 helicopters such was the intensity of the fire they were confronted with (our fire tenders only carry 1000L of water). I arrived on-site at 1700hrs (after being made aware of the incident on the West Coast) by which time the fire had spread through over 100 hectares, there were 6 helicopters and two fixed wing agricultural planes operating, all refilling in a ballet of aerial prowess from Lake Pearson.

The wind was initially from the NW at 20-30kmph and the fire was racing uphill from Craigieburn Cutting (HWY 73), it was 28ºC and humidity was only 18% - this situation firefighters call "fire crossover" where humidity falls below temperature, in this situation fires behave erratically and intensely. Certainly beech trees (that really don't burn that well) were initially smoldering in front of the fire front, but then exploded in a torch of flame rising some 20m-30m into the air, that in turn sucked the fire further up the hill.

I ended up assisting in the hit & miss traffic control at the site; the fire was continually threatening the highway, though we did eventually get some traffic flow by 1900hrs, but this was short-lived when a sudden wind change to the South brought the fire barreling down an unburnt gully back to the highway; the issue was further compounded by tree-falls & rock-slides onto the Hwy.

This is now the largest fire to have threatened our area and expanding by the minute (300Ha+); the previous largest was a wild fire on Mt horrible in March 2001 (costing almost $1,000,000 to extinguish). At this stage aircraft are the only viable method of fighting this fire as its head is now in difficult to access terrain, and its behaviour is still quite erratic & dangerous to have ground crews chasing it. Friends in Castle Hill Village have reported ash (luckily not live embers at this stage) falling in the tinder dry grasslands surrounding the Village.