• Source: 2024 Port Hills fire

      • The 2024 Port Hills fire was a wildfire in Christchurch, New Zealand. The fire started at around 2:15 pm NZDT on 14 February 2024 on Worsleys Road. It is close to the location of one of the fires that started on 13 February 2017 which developed into the 2017 Port Hills fires.
      At the height of firefighting efforts on 16 February, the fire had spread over 700 hectares and was being fought by over 100 firefighters, 15 helicopters, two fixed-wing planes, and 28 fire engines. 110 properties had been evacuated in total. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and the New Zealand Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, including whether there was any human involvement. Two people were seen on a nearby walking track before they drove away, around the same time the fire started. FENZ and the police are asking for photos and videos taken between 1:30pm and 5pm on the day the fire began.


      Events



      Fire and Emergency New Zealand said that dry weather had led to "tinder conditions". Dozens of properties have been evacuated including a nearby hospital. On 14 February a state of emergency was declared in Christchurch and Selwyn. Starting at 2:45pm, for 25 minutes, 39,000 properties were left without power. Transpower believes that it is caused by soot causing an outage at the Bromley substation. As of 15 February, the fire is being fought by 28 fire appliances, 14 helicopters and two retardant-dropping aircraft, which consist 80 Fire and Emergency crews. There are also currently two evacuation hubs.
      On the night of 14 February, 80 homes were evacuated, and firefighters created a fire break between Worsleys Spur and Dyers Pass Road. On the night of 17 February and the morning after, a civilian drone caused several helicopters to be grounded.


      Origin


      The cause of the fire is currently unknown. Fire and Emergency is asking for photographs of the fire between 1:45pm and 2:45pm to trace the origin, a half hour before and after the fire began. The ignition point of the fire has been identified as within metres of a public walking track in a pine plantation on Worsleys Spur.


      Response




      = Wednesday 14 February

      =
      The fire started on the afternoon of Wednesday 14 February on Worsleys Road. Fire and Emergency was alerted to the fire at 2:15pm, and four fire appliances with two helicopters were sent to the scene.
      At 2:45pm soot from the fire caused an outage at Transpower's Bromley substation, leaving 39,000 customers without power temporarily.
      By 4pm, eleven more fire appliances and eight more helicopters had joined the firefighting efforts. People in the Worsleys Spur area had begun to evacuate by 4:10pm. The Princess Margaret Hospital in nearby Cashmere was also evacuated.
      Evacuation centres were set up at Te Hāpua Halswell Library and the Lincoln Event Centre. At 5:10pm, the New Zealand Police began to evacuate houses as far as Early Valley Road, which was the origin location of one of the 2017 fires.
      A state of emergency was declared in Christchurch and Selwyn at 6:13pm, to be "better able to coordinate our response across all the various agencies involved".
      At 6:17pm, the District Manager for the Canterbury FENZ Dave Stackhouse reported that 130 firefighters and twelve helicopters were onsite. Six properties were at risk from the fire.
      Helicopters had to be grounded, but 22 firefighting crews continued to work overnight.


      = Thursday 15 February

      =
      At the start of Thursday 15 February, 23 fire appliances, 13 helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft, and over 100 firefighters were fighting the fire. The size of the fire was 630 hectares. At a press conference that morning, Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell and police Inspector Ash Tabb raised the issue of "disaster tourists" going to places near the fire and disrupting firefighters, including by flying drones.
      Fire and Emergency was alerted to a grass fire in Rolleston at 8:54am. This fire affected the Manion Rd rail line and State Highway 1. Four fire engines and a tanker were sent to fight it, and it was contained by 10:05am. Eight fire engines stayed to monitor this fire.
      By 9:15am, the fire had entered the Christchurch Adventure Park.
      At 10:27am the Christchurch City Council announced that Victoria Park and the Halswell Quarry Park were closed. At 10:45am, it was confirmed that 80 properties had been evacuated. This number had increased to 103 by 11:30am.
      At midday, 650 hectares had been burned. At 2:43pm, Dave Stackhouse said that there were 27 fire appliances, 14 helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft fighting the fire, and the fire was still about 630 hectares large.
      At 5pm it was confirmed that one container home had been destroyed by the fire.
      Helicopters and aircraft finished firefighting that night by 8:30pm, but 23 crews continued to fight overnight.
      Canterbury Police announced they wanted footage of the fire taken between 1:30pm and 5pm the previous day to help determine the cause of the fire.


      References

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