Firefighters struggle to contain raging N Zealand wildfires

More people have been asked to prepare to evacuate their homes as firefighters struggle to contain one of the largest recorded wildfires in New Zealand history for the fifth day.About 3,000 residents have already fled from the blaze near Nelson on New Zealand’s South Island that now covers 2,100 hectares with a 27km perimeter, police said.“The situation remains dynamic, changeable, there is a risk to life and our animals and our property,” Civil Defence Nelson Tasman group controller Roger Ball told media yesterday afternoon.Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) regional manager John Sutton said a “fairly intense amount of work” had been done on Saturday by the more than 150 personnel. The biggest worry were winds up to 50km per hour that were predicted for Sunday. “As I’ve said all along that the wind is our biggest enemy, that has determined the strategy that we have been implementing on this fire for the last few days,” he added.Grant Pearce, fire scientist with Scion Rural Fire Research Group said, “Fire managers have reported that current fire danger levels are the highest they’ve seen in almost 20 years.”“The very hot, dry and windy weather over the past month has had a major effect on the drying of forest fuels in particular,” he added.On Friday, 860 homes were evacuated from the town of Wakefield situated 25kms south-west of Nelson.Earlier in the week, about 400 residents were evacuated from Pigeon Valley where the fire started on Tuesday afternoon.Yesterday, civil defence warned residents of a further 235 properties in the Wai-iti area to be ready to evacuate. Several other fires also flared up in recent days in the tinder-dry region, but fire services were able to contain those.Investigators believe that a contractor ploughing a paddock in Pigeon Valley accidentally started the fire.