Nelson bush fires: Monsoon bucket dips into swimming pool as blaze rages on

Wednesday, 6 February 2019

Swimming pools and delivered cupcakes are two small but nonetheless important parts of a massive effort to put out the bush fire in Nelson.

As a dozen ground crews continue to battle the blaze, as many as 14 choppers are in the air at any one time, helping with the effort.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) regional manager rural John Sutton said each of those helicopters dump between 30 and 50 monsoon bucket-loads of water over the course of a day.

Each bucket can hold anywhere between 400 to 1000 litres of water.

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That means somewhere between 168,000 and 800,000 litres of water is being used to quell the flames each day. That's an entire olympic swimming pool every 13 days on the lower end, or every three days at the higher end.

Sutton said it was fortunate there was a lot of water in the area, and he had even seen a monsoon bucket 'dipping' into a local swimming pool to fill up.

Water is just one aspect that needs organisation and resources. There's also personnel to fight the fire.

Sutton said there were three stages of rural fire – 'initial attack', which could be dealt with by a local crew, 'extended attack', where neighbouring resources are required, and a 'campaign fire'.

'That's what we're into now.'

Firefighters fighting the blaze were primarily from the local area, but some had come from the West Coast and North Canterbury.

'As this fire carries on, we will have to draw on firefighters from elsewhere – if they're available.'

FENZ had a logistics team that organised flights, accommodation and meals for crew that needed to be brought in. It engaged with local service providers for those things.

Firefighters mostly stayed in motels, and various caterers supplied food, such as bagged lunches for out in the field.

At this time of year, some other regions like the Wairarapa were already at risk and might be 'reluctant' to loan staff in case they are needed back home. 

Sutton said that was about being strategic. Crew from areas like the Bay of Plenty or Taranaki were more likely to be asked first, as those areas were comparatively less at-risk. 

FENZ crew played a key role in a fire, but Sutton said the campaign was 'truly a multi-agency response'.

There was help from St John, Police, MPI – 'because of the risk to animals' – the Defence Force, the Red Cross, and DOC.

There were so many he was 'bound to forget one'.

There was a small but impactful crew from the airforce, and the army was on its way. 

He said the army was an experienced and capable firefighting team in its own right, as it was responsible for fires on defence land and ran its own firefighting training and drills.

Two planes had also been brought in to lay fire retardant around the perimeter of the fire, to halt its spread.

'They're not large, but they're nimble and quick.'

The community was mucking in too.

There were volunteers across all groups, but some civilians had reached out to offer resources via Facebook.

Even some of the youngest members of the community were helping out.

'Two young girls were giving away cupcakes. It's that kind of thing.

'I think the people in the office benefited the most from that, but I think they were meant for the people out there.

'It's amazing, the level of community support with this sort of thing.

'That's not uncommon.'