'The potential is there' for another Port Hills fire disaster

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

A year on from the devastating Port Hills fires, more blazes than ever are burning across New Zealand. They will grow even more common, emergency services say, and people need to be more prepared for the losses that come with it.

On February 13, 2017, a fire broke out on Early Valley Rd, at the base of the Port Hills in Christchurch's southwest. Another soon ignited nearby and the two combined to destroy 11 houses and 2000 hectares of bush and farmland. Pilot Steve Askin was killed when his helicopter crashed into a hillside while fighting the blaze.

'We've had fires before in New Zealand,' Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) rural regional manager Richard McNamara said, 'Large fires. Larger than this one. But this is the first one that impacted so heavily on an urban interface of a major metropolitan area.'

**READ MORE:

* Port Hills fires, one year on: 'You'd think they would try to help us out'

* Firestorm: The Port Hills fires

* Port Hills fires: Lessons for the entire country

* Port Hills fire: How it moved

* Canterbury's Port Hills fires likely deliberately lit**

One year to the day after those fires flared, McNamara stood at the Sign of the Bellbird, overlooking the still charred forest of Kennedys Bush and Early Valley below, and recounted some sobering facts: The number of vegetation fires has jumped 25 per cent this summer compared to last. Fire crews responded to more than 1000 in December alone.

'The climate is changing, that's a fact,' he said. 'We are getting more extreme weather, and it means bigger storms, heavier rainfall and prolonged droughts – which of course means a greater fire risk and more fires.

'The potential [for another Port Hills-like fire] is there because of our change in climate. Also because we're now pushing our human habitation into areas that were previously rural areas. The Port Hills have burnt before. It has a history of fires. Now we're pushing subdivisions up into these areas.'

More houses and more fires brought new realities. Not every home could be protected. Fire and Emergency New Zealand Christchurch Metro area commander Dave Stackhouse recalled his interview with Alan Goodwin, the Australian expert who led the review of the emergency response to the Port Hills fires. They talked about the meetings he attended where residents were angry more was not done to save properties.

'He [Goodwin] said, 'People in New Zealand need to get used to that because sometimes you can't save them.' I said, 'I don't think New Zealanders are ready to hear that.'

'We need to educate and offer services to the public so they can understand the risks of living in those areas.'

McNamara echoed the sentiment.

'No-one expects us to stop an earthquake, nobody expects us to drain a flood, but a lot of people have it in their heads that maybe these fires can be stopped,' he said.

'At times when the fire is exhibiting the kind of energies that this thing was … they are uncontrollable. Nothing on God's earth is going to stop that amount of energy.'

The Goodwin-led review commended firefighters' efforts, but found myriad shortcomings on the management side. FENZ, formed last year by amalgamating the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority and the 38 rural fire districts, is introducing many of its recommendations, including improved communications with local helicopter companies, adopting a proven Australian crisis management model used in bushfires and better public information processes.

'From a response point of view, you can already see the value in [the new model],' McNamara said.

'The [Christmas Day] fire in Hororata, two houses were directly saved by the fact that we had crews respond so fast, both urban and rural, and we had aircraft on standby. Those aircraft were lifting within five minutes. As a small rural fire authority that was not possible a year ago.'