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Burn-off nightmare
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Tim Brewster
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The occupants of a house evacuated on Monday night, as a permitted fire got out of control on Mount Roy and reached their boundary, said they are anything but “ecstatic” about the result of the burn-off. “You would have to be on ecstasy to enjoy what we went through,” homeowner Marc Simmonds said, referring to a media statement made by the man who started the fire, neighbour John Levy, in a report yesterday. Marc and his wife Tanya were alerted to the encroaching flames by friends in a text message at about 2am on Tuesday. A fire-fighter then arrived at the house and suggested they evacuate. “Basically we were told we had five minutes to get out,” Marc said. After rapidly collecting some belongings, they rounded up their two dogs, but were unable to locate their two pet donkeys which was quite distressing, Tanya said. The aniamals were found unharmed the next day after the fire had burnt an estimated 350 hectares of land including 70 hectares belonging to DOC. The Simmonds are annoyed they had no notification from the landowner who
started the fire and want to discuss the matter with the council. They can not understand how a fire permit can be issued so close to town when the wind shifts can be
then a nor’wester kicked in,” he said. “It was an expensive night, that’s for sure. It’s my first and last burn off. It’s like my marriage. I won’t be doing that again.” The
be sown with grass seed and the burning of a “large amount of combustible material” on the hillside meant it is no longer a fire risk. The Simmonds disagreed
PHOTO: wanaka photography
so unpredictable. Land owner John Levy said the burn had been “a textbook operation” with helicopters on hand and firebreaks in place. “I had been waiting for weeks for south-easterly weather, the fire had been well controlled,
fire had been well managed until he went down the hill to shift some stock. He then looked up to see the fire crossing into Alpha Burn station and immediately called in more helicopters to help extinguish it. John said the land will now
and said if the wind had continued the fire could easily have spread along the hill, damaged their home and continued on into the residential area along Mount Aspiring Road with potentially disastrous results. They acknowledged the custom
of burning off as a farming tradition but the proximity of an unpredictable fire to houses on the outskirts of town seemed unsafe. “I really can’t understand how you can be allowed to burn off so close to homes. It’s not a remote high country area,” Tanya said. Marc also said he can’t speak too highly about the efforts and attitude of the fire brigade who spent the night fighting the flames especially considering they are volunteers.Their house has a hydroelectric unit which the fire brigade took water from to help stop the flames from damaging their property. QLDC principal rural fire officer Gordon Bailey will head an investigation into the fire. Gordon said the person lighting the fire is responsible for the cost of putting it out. He indicated a “ballpark” figure of $30-$50,000 for the cost of putting out the blaze with no further action likely if the conditions of the permit had been adhered to. “He [the landowner] was good to deal with, but we’ll go through with the investigation and make a decision after that.”