CHC Fire

[Splitpin]

Going by the amount of smoke to the North of our place , there seems to be major fire toward Hallswell .

[Ian Warren]

Yeah ! wrong time .. wrong wind .. been going three hours now.

[Splitpin]

Ian , have you seen the port hills ? .... Ive never seen them so dry.
Scary stuff . Not wanting to take anything away from Australia ... but , man its dry.

[Splitpin]

Interesting to note , while i was watching that smoke at sunset .... it reaches a point (altitude) where it changes from smoke into a white cloud.

[Ian Warren]

Seen it before .. Don't Worry , We will have our own Personal NZFF Super Hero up there in the action , ..... 'Ian White' The Quiet One AKA 'Whitei'

[Ian Warren]

Must be close to under control ... just a three Helo's return to the nest unless its a refuel .. this time of the night , don't think so.

[Fozzer]

Wildfire?... ...!

...anything on the local NZ news?

Paul..... ...!

...this one?....>>> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/fires/news/ar ... d=11799712

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/ ... awke's-bay

[Ian Warren]

We will find out tomorrow , was a quick report on the 6.00 news , I noticed it around 4.45 thought another Southerly but going the wrong direction 'CLICK' .. fire

[Ian Warren]

Nothing 0700 this morning but the wind has picked up and its away again with strong Westers all day.
http://www.metservice.com/towns-cities/ ... ristchurch
Obviously still going but found extra fuel causing the smoke pillar.

[scaber]

I took this shot last night from my front lawn around 9pm. Thought some of you might be interested - and it's aviation related as there's a helicopter in there too

Please excuse the noise due to an underexposed 10000 ISO shot

.

[Ian Warren]

Hell of a shot from where you are .. BAZZOOKA , 155mm Howitzer camera really hooking into it , had Fletcher/Cresco bombers all morning and it finally looks like they have shut it down.

[scaber]

Another from this afternoon, it has flared up a bit once more. It seems that this will continue burning for another day or two. These are taken from 7km away so a bit soft at this magnification what with the atmospheric distortion and optical limitations of the lens combinations.

[NZ255]

, a pilot has died fighting it.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/ ... ims-a-life

[Ian Warren]

CRAP ! .. Just heard myself Nick !

[Splitpin]

Yes , very sad .

[Fozzer]

A bad do.

Google Mapping the area, and watching the news!

Paul.

[Fozzer]

New Zealand has Wildfires....

...California has Floods!

Sacramento Valley:

Lake Orville Dam in danger of breaching due to heavy rains over the recent months!...>>>

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Evac ... 27&em=true

Recalling a similar disaster in 1928....>>>

St. Francis Dam collapse in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles:

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/03 ... am/387457/

Paul.

[Ian Warren]

By compare the Australian bush fires, the Port hills fire is only match stick by any size, when the Aussie fires get going we get the smoke here in Christchurch , when flying to Australia at 35,000 you fly threw jetstreams of smoke many times and you can pick when it gets intense simply by the thicker stream and colour change.

[Ian Warren]

I've just come in from the shop , good thing the wind has changed to easterly, from what I'm seeing , looks like the fire has jumped into the Craycroft Valley !

[Splitpin]

Not good at all ... what a shame they can't put a big water bladder in the back of a herc or two and kill this thing.
I know the choppers are doing their best , but jeez ... i think these guys are out of their depth now.