The cause of the Lee Valley fire is becoming clearer and it has prompted Fire and Emergency to remind communities to have an escape plan and be aware of the heightened fire risk.
Community risk manager for the Top of the South, Steve Trigg, who was also the incident commander of the fire in the Lee Valley, says, while the cause isn’t 100 per cent confirmed it looks to have been caused through a mechanical fault in a vehicle.
“It looks like it was a mechanical fault from a vehicle going by, that either could’ve been a hot piece of metal or a bearing that heated up or something like that.
“It’s good to take the suspicious element out, then we know we don’t have a problem in the community,” Steve says.
He says that while it looks to have been something that can be hard to mitigate against, it presents a good chance for property owners to plan their way out and plan where they would go in an emergency.
“People need to consider having somewhere to go. It could be in the middle of the night and standing at the cordon is not the best place. It may be a friend of family member at the other end of town where they can go and hang out till we get things under control.”
Steve says, first and foremost Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) would like to remind the community of when you can and can’t light a fire.
Coastal, Waimea and Nelson North zones are all in a prohibited fire season (pictured), meaning there is a total fire ban for Nelson, Hira, Richmond, Wakefield, Tapawera, Māpua, Motueka, the Abel Tasman and everything in between.
Consult checkitsalright.nz to find out about items such as portable BBQs, gas appliances, and pizza ovens.
Steve says the website is also a wealth of knowledge for how to protect your home from fire.
“We will remove the life risk by evacuating homes, and we’ll do everything we can to protect their home but we can’t do it alone, we need the community to do as much as they can.
“Give us defendable space.”
He reminds residents that fire appliances need a 4m square cleared area to be able to manoeuvre through.
“If we don’t have that, we can’t get the appliance to you or your home. We will defend your home but it would be advantageous if you could give us a defendable space.”
He says, things like keeping vegetation clear from the house, keeping the grass low, and mowing it in the morning or late at night are all important.
“Also, don’t store firewood next to the house, bark gardens are dangerous, all these kinds of things.”
He says, in this instance the damage to the forestry was quite minimal.
“Through the good work of our team and the helicopter operators... we had a lot operating within a small area.
“Pigeon Valley has made the community very aware of the effects of wildfire. Everyone’s had a high level of awareness and buy-in.”
Steve says he’s really proud of FENZ’s partnerships with forestry companies, particularly the collective effort on extinguishing the fire in the Lee Valley.
He wants to thank the community for their support during the fire.
“The public, the evacuated residents for their support and patience, our partner agencies and stakeholders, FENZ volunteers and career personnel, police, and St John - thank you.
“Until someone is affected by it, they don’t really understand it. We’re trying to do everything we can to reduce the complacency.”
