North Canterbury grass fire contained, residents allowed home

Friday, 28 February 2020

Motunau is a small coastal settlement about 36km northeast of Waipara in North Canterbury. (File photo).

Firefighters have contained a grass fire in rural north Canterbury that forced evacuations on Friday night.

Residents in the small coastal settlement of Motunau, about 36 kilometres northeast of Waipara, were forced out of their homes after the fire took hold near Hall St, just before 6pm.

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Four helicopters and 18 crews battled the blaze, which was brought under control just after 8pm after burning through 15 hectares.

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Residents evacuated to the Motunau fire station were then able to return home.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) said in a statement that the helicopters stopped operating about 9pm, when it became too dark. Ground crews continued fighting the fire after that.

The fire damaged a garage and was threatening several properties earlier in the evening.

According to MetService, the temperature in Motunau at 6.45pm was 29 degrees Celsius, and there were northerly winds.

Large plumes of smoke from the fire were visible as far south as Woodend.

The fire danger in Canterbury is extreme, similar to February 2017 when the Port Hills ignited, burning through 2000ha of scrub and 11 houses.

Since January 25, a prohibited fire season has been in place for Christchurch, Hurunui, Selwyn and Waimakariri districts.

There is also a prohibited fire season in the Kaikōura district. The Ashburton, Timaru and McKenzie districts are under a restricted fire season.

All open air fires will be prohibited but gas-operated appliances, barbecues, wood-fire pizza ovens, hāngi and umu less than 2 metres in size are allowed.

For further information on fire safety guidelines visit www.checkitsalright.nz.