310120 News. Photo: Bejon Haswell/ Stuff
A plantation fire between Mt Dobson and Burkes pass
Smoke, shifts, smells and stranded kicked off the big news stories in February with the threat of Covid-19 looming writes Doug Sail in the second of our series looking back on the year that was. A fire fanned by wind and hot temperatures killed livestock, damaged several buildings and burned more than 100 hectares near Burkes Pass. ‘‘The fire spread quickly in low value forestry and tussock,’’ Chris Clarke, Mackenzie District Council emergency operations centre public information manager, said. At the height of the blaze, Fire and Emergency New Zealand had five helicopters, two 20-tonne diggers, three tankers, three firefighting appliances, and a further four firefighting vehicles at the scene along with about 50 personnel.
Timaru
New-zealand-general
New-zealand
Australia
Burkes-pass
Oamaru
Glenavy
China
Beijing
Waimate
South-island
Greg-adams