Residents allowed to return home after Waikari Valley blaze

Locals are being allowed to return to their homes after a large scrub fire at north Canterbury's Waikari Valley near Waipara.

Emergency services were alerted to the "fast-moving" blaze shortly after 8pm yesterday.

Fire and Emergency incident commander Des Irving said the fire was now contained but it was not yet out.

"There is a big difference," he said..

"It means you can go home tonight, but you still have to be vigilant. There is still a live fire burning heading towards Glenmark."

He said FENZ was expecting a southerly wind tonight which would help crews battle the fire but it would still take some days to fully extinguish it, due to its subterranean nature.

Irving asked residents to have a grab bag ready of their important possessions, and a plan for their animals.

Homes on Shell Rock Rd and Glenmark Drive were evacuated last night as firefighters worked to contain the blaze and affected residents haven't yet been able to return to their homes. Police officers assisted with the evacuations.

Prior to the announcement, Irving had said the fire was about 250 hectares, and fire crews were battling strong, hot and dry wind conditions.

He asked other residents nearby to avoid any lawn mowing, groundworks or hot works while this was going on, and revaluate tomorrow.

"We are predicting rain later on, so that will be a good time to do that sort of stuff. Just use a common sense approach."

The cause of the fire cause was still being investigated.

Irving said two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft have been deployed to tackle the fire, and FENZ is rotating crews at the scene.

Earlier, a FENZ spokesperson said: "There have been no reported livestock losses, or any structures lost or damaged".

"Fire and Emergency is working with displaced residents and farmers, and hope to return them to their homes as soon as possible."

Police asked people to avoid the area.

An evacuation centre has been set up at Waipara Memorial Hall, Key said.

A meeting was held at the hall at 9am this morning for affected residents and evacuees.

At the time, the fire had somewhat settled — but high winds this afternoon caused it to flare up again and burn down a new ridge.

At another meeting about 12.30am, incident commander Des Irving told visibly upset residents about the latest developments.

"We had the fire contained this morning 'til about 15 minutes ago, and now it's broken over the ridge," he said.

"The front is growing, currently at about 250m long, width and travelling at great speed.

"For that reason, and with your safety my priority, I'm not allowing you back into your houses just yet."

Helicopters are back in the air and a fixed wing plane has been requested to assist.

Resident stories

Evacuated Shell Rock Rd resident James Girdlestone told 1News he missed the 9am meeting.

"I actually was a wee bit naughty and snuck up. We couldn't get our cat last night so I snuck up and rescued our cat Nico for my son, who was pretty upset," he said. "I think we are just on hold at the moment, just waiting to see what develops with the wind.

"Everything seems to be OK, fire brigade are brilliant, got up there nice and early and let us know," he added.

"Basically just packed up and got the hell out of there.

"Bit scary, there's heaps of fuel up there and it's bloody dry conditions."

Sue Winslade, another evacuated local, said her family smelt the fire before they saw it.

"You're in a country area... You don't know which way it's coming from," she said.

Winslade's son in Rolleston called her after reading about the fire's location online.

"We just packed everything we thought was good and went with it," she said.

"Photos, documents, the cat, the dog. Whatever's precious.

"The cat is geriatric, I don't know how old she is, she was a rescue, and she is not taking to camping very well.

"It doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good... Just that smell, I don't think I'll ever get it out of my nose."

Phil and Sally Thomson said they were evacuated at about midnight last night.

"We went outside and there was ash, the house was getting covered in ash. Pretty nerve-wracking," Phil said.