Snow halts fire

Press, 6 October 1980, Page 1

Snow halts fire

Snow was falling on members of the HighCountry Firefighting Team as they worked to put out groups of fires in the Mount Thomas State forest yesterday. The timely arrival of rain and snow on Saturday had halted the advance of the fire, which started during a northwesterly gale on Friday afternoon.

According to the latest Forest Service estimates, about 900 ha of beech forest has been destroyed by the blaze, the biggest in Canterbury for years. Using chainsaws and beaters, the fire-fighting team was trying to eliminate pockets of fire in the middle and east of the forest, said the Assistant Conservator of Forests in Canterbury (Mr H. H. Wilson). “It is now a matter of trying to get all the fires out before we get more warm, dry weather,” he said.

Such was the force of the wind on Friday that the fire had leaped from ridge-top to ridge-top in places, said Mr Wilson. Helicopter landing pads have been cut in the bush so that fire-fighters can be ferried quickly to trouble spots. Today, an aircraft equipped with a heat-sen-sitive thermo-vision scanner will fly over the area to try to pinpoint “hot spots.” Fire-fighting teams are expected to remain at the forest today and tomorrow, and possibly longer.