Southland firefighters are concerned a fire that has been devastating conservation land could flare up and spread as more windy, dry conditions are on the way.
The fire started on April 2 and has burnt through more than 1300ha of internationally and culturally significant Awarua-Waituna Wetlands.
Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan visited the fire grounds yesterday, describing the damage as absolutely gutting.
Ms Allan made a flyover yesterday morning.
‘‘You can see in particular areas there’s still a lot steam and heat emanating from those areas, and in other areas, you can just see she’s been scorched right down to the base.’’
It was not just the loss of flora and fauna that was hard to take - the wetlands also stored greenhouse gases.
‘‘That is huge amounts of carbon that’s just been released into the environment.’’
She was heartened to see patches of untouched land and more birds than she expected.
It has been hard work for firefighters.
‘‘They’re out there literally digging the roots of these burning wetland areas. That’s incredibly hot. I’ve just heard that one of the areas out there was 500m by 100m, burning at about 300 degrees, so she’s hot work. It’s grubby work.
‘‘One of the guys I spoke to earlier today, he made it about a kilometre and a-half through burning manuka and that was his whole day’s work, and it was just a struggle to get from place A to place B.’’
She did not rule out government support, but did not commit any funds during her visit.
Conditions have not been kind since the fire started, strong winds grounding helicopters and the drought creating tinder dry conditions.
Rain was forecast overnight.
Incident controller Julian Tohiariki said more dry, windy conditions were expected, concerns being the contained fire could flare up again.
‘‘Any rain at this stage is always helpful, of course. But it would take at least 100mm of rain for us to rehydrate the ground to where it would normally be at this time of the year.
‘‘The dry summer has definitely knocked the ground around out here. Even though it looks green, underneath the ground it’s not the story at all.’’
He estimated the firefighting bill at $800,000 but that could increase.
An investigation into the fire is under way.
