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EDITION 1061
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Assessing the damage
An aerial shot of the fire damage provided by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Roy Pilott
editor@thewanakasun.co.nz
he Department of Conservation is preparing an audit of the Emerald Bay block devastated by last weekend’s fire. A spokesperson told the Wānaka Sun it was working on compiling information on what species may have been affected. Police say they know what caused the blaze, but the fire service had still to rule out all options when this edition went to press. Sunday’s blaze, which engulfed 280ha and had a 7.1km perimeter. Mo Turnbull from the Central Otago Branch of Forest and Bird told the Sun any loss of areas
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of native vegetation was regrettable, “and this one (Glendhu Bluff Conservation area) is especially so as there is so little of this type of forest left in the Upper Clutha region”. “As well as the plant communities, we have lost the invertebrate fauna, and the bird population.” The area had been untouched by farming operations for decades. “As well as the loss of natural values, the fire has added to the burden our atmosphere is carrying,” he said. “Wildfires are a predicted consequence of global warming, witness Canada, Siberia, Australia and much of Europe. He said until man could get the use of the planet's resources under control, and wind back
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the use of fossil fuel, “we will see more of them”. The blaze was spotted on Sunday afternoon between Emerald Bay and Mt Aspiring Rd and clearly visible from Wānaka. It spread to parts of Glendhu Bay Station, owned by the McRae family, Department of Conservation land and parts of the Parkins Bay Golf Course project, owned by developer John Darby. The fire resulted in power being cut to 78 Wānaka and Mt Aspiring customers and damaged seven power poles. Aurora Energy restored power to 43 customers on Sunday and brought in a generator to restore power to remaining customers by Monday evening. Glendhu Bike Park was evacuated on Sunday
as a precaution. Helicopters filled monsoon buckets with water from Diamond Lake and Lake Wānaka. They were able to get several hours in on Sunday before dusk – had the fire been discovered later, it could have caused more damage. It was almost two days later before Fire and Emergency could confirm the Emerald Bay fire had been contained. Incident Controller Jason Sarich said firefighters would continue to focus on dampening down hotspots identified by thermal imaging. On Tuesday there were still four crews working on the fireground – two Fire and Emergency Crews from Glenorchy and Dunstan and two from the Department of Conservation.
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