Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Deteriorating weather conditions have forced Fire and Emergency New Zealand, New Zealand Defence Force and Department of Conservation crews to halt work on the fire in the Waiouru Military Training Area, which began on Monday.
Incident Controller Ben Cozens said rain has started falling and wind speed has picked up around the fireground this afternoon, so crews have withdrawn as planned for their safety.
“This morning crews were working along the fire edge to check and extinguish hot spots,” he said.
“Drone teams will, weather permitting, be able to identify areas of interest overnight for crews to concentrate on tomorrow.”
The fire is currently approximately 36% contained, with the majority of the identified hot spots in two areas of dense trees and bush.
“Our priority is still to contain the fire as soon as possible,” Ben Cozens said. “However, the safety of our crews is the most important aspect of the work we are carrying out.
“With the change in weather conditions the likelihood of any flare-ups is relatively low. “We will continue to monitor conditions and get crews back onto the fireground when it is safe to do so.”
Crews will continue working over the weekend and will be back on the fireground tomorrow to continue extinguishing hot spots and extend the containment lines.
Editors’ note: Our next two updates are expected to be on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. If there are any significant developments, we will provide additional updates.
Captions:
Waiouru fireground.jpg – All teams are working together, meeting at one of the main work areas.
Waiouru NZDF .jpg – Fire and Emergency and NZDF crews take a break to discuss changing weather conditions on the fireground.