Blaze on St Andrew’s Park section
The large plume of some pouring from a section fire in Highview Terrace in St Andrew’s Park this morning. Photo: Stuart Mountain
Builders working next door and neighbours scrambled to get a decent blaze under control on a St Andrew’s Park section late this morning, while fire appliances raced to the scene from Queenstown, Frankton and Arrowtown.
The large plume of thick brown and white smoke was clearly visible from across the lake at Kelvin Heights.
Landscaper Stuart Mountain and his colleagues from Shotover Mowing saw a “massive plume of smoke” from their work site at the top of the subdivision.
“There were a lot of houses around the section and the fire was pretty close to the houses,” says Stuart. “People were scrambling around and cars were driving about very quickly, some were helping to try put the fire out.” Ground conditions were very, very dry and it was very hot, he says.
Deputy Queenstown Fire Chief Bobby Lamont says fortunately the builders working adjacent to the Highview Terrace site, and neighbours, with hoses and buckets of water had done a great job of trying to get things under control before the brigades arrived.
“It was a good save by the public. They made a good start.” However, the Queenstown and Frankton Volunteer Brigades, with Arrowtown arriving with its water tanker back-up, were definitely required to put the fire out. They remained on site for some time dampening down hot spots and ensuring the area was safe.
At this stage it’s not known how the fire started and Bobby says a fire investigator may come up from Invercargill, either later today or tomorrow if required, to assess the site and find what started the blaze.
As group manager for FENZ (Fire Emergency NZ) for Central Otago, Bobby says people need to be super cautious right now. “We are in a total fire ban and it’s possible the next move may be to implement (Section 52) prohibitions on the likes of chainsaws, lawnmowers and grinders. It’s a step we could take, but that’s not my call.”
“As we keep drying out and heating up more it’s possible lawnmowers and chainsaws and the likes may cause a spark,” he says. He’s urging anyone mowing the lawns to do it first thing in the morning early and have a bucket of water and hose handy in case of any sparks.
“First check the weather for any high winds if there’s extreme fire danger, but make sure any hoses work first. We had a fire at Lake Hayes six or seven years ago after somebody was doing some grinding and a spark ignited. They had a hose ready on site which was great but unfortunately they discovered it didn’t work.”
Thankfully, in this case too, neighbours had irrigated gardens at the appropriate time, which helped.
See checkitsalright.nz to stay safe and reduce the risk of fire.
