Nelson bush fire: Animals evacuated as blaze takes hold

Wednesday, 6 February 2019

Horse owners have evacuated their animals from the path of the Nelson bush fire.

Vanessa and Allan, who preferred not to use their last names, rescued their two horses from their Eves Valley property and took them to stables at the Richmond Racecourse, which is housing livestock and pets from the fire.

The couple stayed in a campervan at the racecourse.

Allan said he saw smoke on the hill as early as 2.15pm on Tuesday from his workplace in Richmond. He called his wife Vanessa at home in Eves Valley, who looked out the window and saw smoke a few properties away.

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Allan finished work early and they decided to self-evacuate about 5.30pm.

'It was when I saw flames on the ridgeline, and we were out of there,' Vanessa said.

They had some difficulty getting their horses Jake and Nat onto the float, as they were agitated by the smell of smoke, but some friends came over to help, Vanessa said.

The couple had a restless night along with their horses.

'Nat kept snorting, it's a particular noise he makes and it's his worried noise. So every time I heard it I was waking up,' Vanessa said, as she fed the horses on Wednesday morning.

'It still hasn't sunk in. I know I'll sit down at some point when we stop moving and the lack of sleep will catch up with me.

They were allowed back through the cordon for 45 minutes to grab belongings from their property on Wednesday morning.

'We checked on stock and checked on the house. And we were going, holy crap, our neighbour's slash pile has burnt our fence down. He cut a couple acres of pines down only a couple days ago. Well it's all gone now,' Vanessa said.

'There's slash piles all over the place, that can't be helping. The forestry industry should probably get on to that, it's a disaster waiting to happen.'

Vanessa and Allan had a dozen cows and eight sheep at home. 'We opened the gates and let them go for it', Vanessa said. 'They were pretty clever and headed down to the remains of the stream. It runs right through the property but it's so low at the moment, it's really dry.'

Allan had heard of neighbours having to put down stock that was burnt by the fire, he said. They expected to stay in the campervan at least one more night.

The couple had moved to Eves Valley last year from Kaikoura where they had to evacuate during the 2016 earthquake.  Vanessa was unsure whether that experience helped.

'I think I just went onto autopilot,' she said. 

Richmond Racecourse manager Annette Robinson said the team arranged pens for cattle and sheep evacuated from the area after enquiries from Civil Defence.

'We posted something online saying there were yards and stables available for horses but now we're taking pretty much anything,' Robinson said.

The racecourse had taken in 13 horses and one donkey from two Redwood Valley residents, and Vanessa and Allan.

One of the Redwood Valley households had arrived at 3am.

Richmond Racecourse miniature horse breeder Kelly Carston said horses became anxious when they smelled smoke or heard loud noises, and the stress could even affect their health.

SPCA said it was liaising with the Tasman District Council's animal management team. If people needed help finding temporary shelter for animals they can contact SPCA's Nelson centre on 03 547 7171 or its Auckland based call centre on 09 256 7300. 

The organisation advised that people who owned companion animals and were evacuating should take them in suitable carriers with food, water and medication. Full information available here https://www.spca.nz/advice-and-welfare/article/animals-in-emergencies?fbclid=IwAR1Sy-xLKeYN3q6kvs_48wmU3KKegEzUYUH7Iq9GAAVpZmIGt32ZkYJgdow