Good save at Newlands fire

By Frank Neill

Fire fighters saved a number of Newlands homes from becoming involved in a fire that broke out on 11 February.

The blaze began behind the Kiwi Self Storage units at 2 Newlands Road and quickly spread up the hillside.

The Fire Brigade was called at 1:29pm and an appliance from the Johnsonville Fire Station was first on the scene.

”We were on the scene quite quickly, worked efficiently and got water on the fire quickly,” says Brendon Wood, the Thorndon Fire Brigade’s senior station officer. On 11 February Mr Wood was acting as the Johnsonville Fire Brigade’s senior station officer.

Fire fighters had to work efficiently as the fire was travelling really rapidly up the steep gradient, through extremely dry light grass, gorse and scrub.

“Luckily,” Mr Wood says, “it wasn’t a windy day.”

After burning through the gorse and scrub, the fire reached a stand of pines and had begun to ignite these by the time fire fighters had the blaze under control, about an hour after arriving on the scene.

Had the flames got into the pine trees, houses above them would have been at risk, Mr Wood says.

“It was a good save.

“All the crews involved worked very efficiently and did an extremely good job under adverse conditions.”

Six urban fire engines, seven rural fire engines and one aerial appliance – a fire engine with a 100-foot ladder fixed to its roof – responded to the fire.

After getting the fire under control in around an hour, firefighters spent another two and a half hours mopping up – including ensuring there were no remaining hot spots that would allow the fire to get away again. The fire burnt through around nine hectares of the cliff face.

The Fire Brigade had not yet established the cause of the fire, and determination of its cause was ongoing, Mr Wood told the “Independent Herald” on 14 February.