Friday, March 29, 2024

Livin’ on the edge

Neal Wallace
They are the first responders called out to fight rural fires often in remote and hostile areas. Neal Wallace speaks to wildfire specialist Graeme Still.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Graeme Still’s life revolves around weather forecasts.

It can allow some relaxation, but at other times the forecast puts the Dunedin-based Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) national wildfire specialist on edge, as happened in the last days of January 2018.

Forecasts indicated several days of temperatures reaching 30C and humidity falling as low as 20%, along with wind.

Not only were they perfect conditions for wildfire, but concerningly the forecast applied through much of Otago.

“We had an aircraft on standby and fire crews at a high state of readiness,” he said.

Still was on leave and returned home to oversee operations.

Within 30 minutes of each other three fires had ignited, two were especially serious.

The first was in South Otago, but his preparation proved priceless.

He recalls the fire was headed towards some trees, and a helicopter that had been on standby arrived just in time, preventing its spread and allowing fire crews to wrestle back control.

The most testing fire started in vegetation on the outskirts of Dunedin city, eventually burning 25ha and forcing the evacuation of 100 homes.

It too was eventually brought under control using air and ground crews.

While Still draws comfort by having a strong and capable network of experienced rural fire teams on which to call, his role also provides an insight into human behaviour.

A third of all rural fires, easily the most common cause, are old fires that were not fully extinguished and reignited.

Graeme Still | February 01, 2021 from GlobalHQ on Vimeo.

Depending on factors such as the weather, Still says unextinguished fires can remain a risk for months and usually the result of landowners taking on a burn that is bigger than can be properly managed.

There is also a noticeable spike in fires being lit as the fire season is recalibrated between open, restricted and prohibited.

“They think they will get in before I increase the restrictions, so between fire seasons we get spikes,” he said.

Still has overseen rural fires in Otago for the past 16 years, but was recently promoted to national wildfire specialist for FENZ.

The new position is a rural fire advisory role, centred on helping manage the four Rs of firefighting: ready, reduction, response and recovery.

Still has fought some of the country’s largest fires, but says 2020 was one of the longest fire seasons due to the dry winter and frost curing vegetation which made ideal fire fuel.

In September a fire razed 3500ha at the head of Lake Pukaki and a month later 5000ha was burnt and 40 structures destroyed at Lake Ohau.

Still has controlled other larger fires, such as the November 2019 event which swept through 5000ha in the remote Lammerlaw Range in Central Otago

His interest in fires was sparked while working as a silviculture contractor, where it was used to clear land prior to planting trees, an interest that has since evolved into the science of fires.

“I learnt how fire behaved,” he said.

“As I got worn out working in forestry – it is hard on the body – I thought I should change tack.”

In 2004 Still was appointed the principal rural fire officer for the Dunedin City Council prior to the Otago territorial local authorities merging their fire operations to form the Otago Rural Fire District, where he was appointed the operations manager.

And when FENZ was formed in 2018, Still was appointed Otago’s principal rural fire officer. Late last year he was promoted to national wildfire specialist.

Fighting a rural fire means looking and planning ahead.

“It’s not the now, it is the what.” he said.

“It’s not ‘what have I got in front of me now,’ but ‘what is going to develop?’”

Fighting fires is stressful and requires the constant tweaking of plans and prediction of fire behaviour, so firefighters are not presented with sudden surprises.

Those plans are shaped by the environment, weather, slope and fuel from which they determine a fire’s behaviour and rate of spread. 

“Once we know where the fire is going, the rate of spread and how fast it is moving, it helps us develop a plan, the resources we need or if we need to evacuate,” he said.

That can mean initially steering or slowing a particularly ferocious and active fire to bring it under control before extinguishing it by pinching the fire’s flanks and head until it is extinguished.

Underlying his decision-making is the safety of firefighters, with up to 100 fighting some fires, and awareness that homes and buildings can also be threatened.

Ground crews can work in fires of 1000-kilowatt intensity, but at 2000-kilowatt conditions, it’s too oppressive and has to be fought from the air.

“I understand that a fire will bite me as soon as I let my guard down,” he said.

“You must always have situational awareness.”

The quality of staff and volunteers and their knowledge of the province, the terrain and vegetation is a significant asset, he says.

“It’s a big team effort,” he said.

“We have a very good rural team here in Otago, both paid and volunteers.

“They are really sharp with years of experience, so the job is easier because of that.”

That means they quickly understand the seriousness of a fire when a call is made, and resources are readily assigned.

Fires are a legitimate land management tool and Still says generally farmers are responsible with burn plans and long-range weather forecasts.

Ideally fires should be planned a year ahead, so there is no rush or pressure to get it lit.

“Make sure you light what you can control and be prepared not to light up at all,” he said.

“Generally, the farming community is pretty awesome, and they generally know what they are doing.”

There are 17 volunteer rural fire brigades in Otago with 300 fire fighters available, most of whom are farmers.

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading