Nelson bush fire: Firefighters save the day for Carter Holt sawmill

Thursday, 7 February 2019

Fire fighters have saved the Carter Holt Harvey sawmill near Nelson from destruction.

But it's too early for managers to assess the damage to the surrounding forests mainly owned or managed by Tasman Pine Forests, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Forestry.

The latest available map of the fire area shows the fire came within metres of the Carter Holt sawmill.

Civil Defence said there were still a number of fires burning and access to the sawmill and forest areas was cut off for most people.

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Helicopters with monsoon buckets fight the out of control Tasman fire near the Carter Holt mill.

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The Civil Defence spokeswoman said the fire had mostly interrupted farmers going about their business.

The Tasman Pine Forests were at various stages of maturity or harvest.

The Nelson forestry fires came close to the Carter Holt sawmill.

Forest Owners Association spokesman Don Carson said he understood the forests were insured and there might be a chance of harvesting some of the charred trees.

Carson said forest fires were becoming more common and more of them were being classed as 'extreme', such as the Port Hills fire near Christchurch in 2017.

'The two big identified risks on the increase are global warming and lifestyle block owners,' he said.

Global warming meant trees were growing taller and more spindly leaving more debris on the forest floor, while lifestyle block owners were less likely to keep on top of forestry management.

Forestry groups were focusing on education for lifestyle block owners and the general public who might use adjacent areas to forests or walking tracks through them.

Nelson fire volunteers making food for firefighters at Suburbs football club, Lyn Simmons, left, and Karika Friedlander.

Forest managers sometimes stopped operations depending on heat, dryness and winds, he said.

But forestry companies were loathe to quit replanting forestry areas where they had already invested in infrastructure, Carson said.

The Insurance Council has yet to receive any claims but a spokeswoman said she understood there had been one dwelling destroyed.

Crown research company Scion has produced a map showing the likely path of the smoke plume over the next two days.

If the fire were to flare up the model indicates that the smoke will travel north, north-west, west and south-west.

The areas most likely to be affected with potentially unhealthy levels of smoke on Thursday were those close to the fire at Dovedale, Stanley Brook, Tapawera, Kohatu, Motueka Valley, Ngamoti, Wakefield, and Belgrove.

Smoke was predicted to go towards Upper Moutere, Redwood Valley, Mapua, Tasman, Motueka, Wakefield, Brightwater, Richmond and possibly Nelson City on Friday morning .

If the fire keeps burning, highways could be affected, particularly in the early mornings and evenings, and smoke could be a health and visibility risk in narrow valleys.