'Could have done better' over cordons in Pigeon Valley blaze

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Civil defence bosses speak about the review into the Pigeon Valley fire response. Video first published in December 2019.

Better planning for the management of cordons, animal welfare and resources are some of the key recommendations in a review of the Pigeon Valley fire response.

Nelson Tasman Civil Defence Emergency Management Group controller Roger Ball, who released the review on Wednesday, said it concluded that there was a quick and effective multi-agency response to the blaze that spread over 2300 hectares.

'The commitment and the enthusiasm of the teams that responded from around New Zealand was evident and a credit to them, and to the effectiveness of the operation.'

However, the review of the blaze that started in Pigeon Valley, about 30km south-west of Nelson, on February 5, also suggested improvements.

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Joe Kennedy, left, and Roger Ball, discuss the review findings.

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Takaka volunteer firefighters Callum Reid, left, and Grant Lawrence are exhausted at the end of their shift in the first week of the blaze that started in Pigeon Valley on February 5.

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The communication and processes around evacuation and cordon management 'was where we felt there was a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress and that we could have done a better job to avoid that, mitigate it, make our processes a bit smoother', Ball said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern greets Roger Ball in Richmond during the emergency.

'What we've heard afterwards is that it worked better at the early stages when things were … still forming up but as more agencies became involved and as processes became more formalised, it slowed down and people felt that it was harder to find out what was going on and we were slower to respond.'

Cordon management was complex and multiple databases between the agencies was a constraint.

'We had spreadsheets and bits of paper collected from different parties, up different valleys and trying to amalgamate that and keep it consistent was a major job in itself,' Ball said. 'What tended to happen was there was a lag. My feeling is that this is not just a local problem.'

Roger Ball speaks to more than 100 people attending a community meeting at Appleby School during the fire emergency.

The blaze raged across more than 2300 hectares of mainly pine plantations.

There were similar challenges with the 2017 Port Hills fire and the Canterbury earthquakes, he said.

Emergency management manager Joe Kennedy said a working group would look into the issue on a national level next year, 'largely facilitated by the Canterbury CDEM Group and putting together some learnings, largely out of the Pigeon Valley fire, into how we proceed'.

The Pigeon Valley fire saw a state of emergency declared the day after it started, on February 6, which was in place for three weeks. At the peak of the emergency, 3500 people were evacuated. Other fires at Rabbit Island on February 6, Atawhai on February 8, Moutere hill on February 27 and, then later, Dovedale hill on March 6, drew resources from the main blaze.

The review report was authored by specialist infrastructure advisers 41 South and follows the release in October by Fire and Emergency NZ of an operational review report by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council.

Ball said work had started on some of the recommendations in the Nelson Tasman group review including more communication with the community to 'reinforce preparedness' along with providing support and advice. He gave a 'shout out' to a Fire and Emergency New Zealand campaign calling on people to check it's safe before lighting fires.

Ball said animal welfare was an important feature of the response and 'we think we took a good step forward here but we know that there's further work to do'.

The review report recommends working with animal welfare agencies to develop a more detailed plan for managing animal welfare during an emergency.

'This should then be discussed with local farmers and community groups (lifestyle blocks) to help prepare for a future event,' it says.