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Christmas fire hits Matakana again
The fireground on Matakana Island at 6am on Christmas Day, where fire crews, helicopters and heavy machinery worked all day.
By Matthew Farrell eams of firefighters spent Christmas Day battling a vegetation fire on Matakana Island, in a repeat of scenes from December 2020. The blaze in scrub and forestry slash broke out on the evening of Saturday 23rd December. Fire and Emergency New Zealand says the fire was contained within 24 hours as firefighters worked through the night, supported by heavy machinery, to consolidate firebreaks. Incident Controller Jeff Maunder says work continued on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to reinforce the containment lines, with three helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets supporting over 30 firefighters and an excavator. “The fire was 100 per cent contained, but there were some weak points we were working on. We were also identifying dangerous trees and making them safe, and continuing to push the fire away from the containment lines. It was a reasonably long and arduous task,
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Night work on the island. PHOTO: David Brown.
Rural Firefighters Ryan Pryde and Juliska Coetzee from the Eastern Bay Volunteer Fire Brigade at work on Matakana Island.
The view from Ōmokoroa. PHOTO: Chris Dever.
dealing with deep-seated fires in heavy fuels.” Fire and Emergency’s specialist drone crew used infrared thermal imaging equipment to identify about 200 hotspots around the perimeter of the fireground to be targeted with firefighting on Boxing Day. Jeff Maunder describes the fire as “complex”, with areas where the fire was burning underground - for example, in the root systems of large trees - as well as in the “duff layer” of partly decayed organic material on the ground and in living vegetation. There were pockets of vegetation and tree stumps that were still smouldering and could have reignited if not fully extinguished. Firefighters continued working until dark on Christmas Day, when two crews took over monitoring the fireground overnight, and the drone team began their operations. Active firefighting resumed in the morning with crews on the ground and two helicopters waterbombing. Firefighters used hand tools to dig out hotspots and expose any fire burning underground, then soaked the
area with water to ensure it was completely cool. The work was complicated by the large number of dangerous trees damaged or weakened by the fire. People in Tauranga and along the coast reported seeing and smelling smoke from the fire over the next few days as operations continued. Jeff Maunder thanked Matakana locals who had dropped off baking and other supplies for the firefighters and also the local ferry operator who had made extra trips to make sure that crews, vehicles and equipment could cross to and from the island. “We really appreciate the support from the community. Everyone working on this fire gave up Christmas Day with their families. We made sure they had some Christmas treats - they worked hard - and it’s also good to know that the locals are right behind us.” Fire and Emergency arranged additional crews and equipment to continue the operation for the next several days to ensure that the fire wouldn’t reignite before the fireground was handed back to the landowner.
Drone operators working at night on Christmas Day.
The drone footage being analysed. PHOTOS: Supplied