A long night

Up close at a Northland wildfire

Fire management colleague Trevor rang this morning to tell me about a fire that burned 20ha of public conservation land at Lake Ohia  in the far north last night.  He said he’d thought about calling me at home when it broke out – 11pm! – but decided he’d wait to see how it progressed.  Fortunately for me the fire was under control within several hours and mop-up crews were on the job after daybreak.  Still a really long night for the DOC and local brigade crews called out to do dirty, dangerous work.  And three helicopters were required… meaning somebody is probably in for an expensive bill when the cause is identified.

We’ve had some rain in the past week but the fire danger is still high!