Firefighters continuing to battle a blaze burning for five days in a north Canterbury forestry block could witness “extreme fire behaviour”, with strong winds forecast for the region.
The blaze north of Waipara first reported on Thursday was initially contained on Saturday, but gusty winds caused multiple “break-out” fires on Sunday afternoon.
Fire and Emergency NZ incident commander Des Irving said drone mapping overnight revealed the fire to be around 85 hectares in size — double its size last night.
“The fire is still burning through trees within the forestry block and we had crews on the ground monitoring the fire overnight.”
He said multiple crews, supported by heavy machinery and five helicopters, would be working to reestablish containment lines.
“We are expecting strong winds this afternoon which could prove difficult conditions for firefighting, and we could see extreme fire behaviour at times.”
Irving asked Cantabrians to not light any fires and to check old burn piles were fully extinguished.
He also thanked the Hurunui community for its help and support.
“A special shout out to the Waipara Civil Defence Emergency Response team who cooked breakfast this morning for our firefighters who have been working hard to get the fire contained and under control.”
Crews are expected to remain at the fire ground for the rest of the week.
