New Zealand fire crews are responding to a large vegetation fire in the Port Hills near Christchurch, covering about 650 hectares, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said on Thursday.
A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday, hours after the large fire broke out, seven years after the devastating February 2017.
The 2017 fire that burned more than 1,600 hectares of land in the Port Hills, claiming the life of one fire-fighter and destroying nine homes and two other structures.
Wednesday’s fire forced evacuations from 80 property, with no homes having been lost in the blaze.
Local conditions in New Zealand’s Canterbury in late summer this year were conducive to wildfire development, said Nathanael Melia.
Melia is director and principal scientist at Climate Prescience, a climate change consultancy.
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“In contrast to the stormy 2022/2023 summer, 2023/2024 is a big El Nino season, and the globe continues at record temperature levels,’’ Melia said.
He added that ongoing drought conditions above extreme fire risk thresholds were the background.
George Perry, a professor of the School of Environment, University of Auckland, said the changing climate is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires.
It escalated the risks not just in rural areas but also where people felt more secure like the edges of cities.
“February, the end of summer, is when the vegetation is at its driest so that’s providing good fuel for a wildfire,’’ said Nicola Day.
Day is a plant and fungal ecologist at the School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
This fire was a timely reminder of how to prepare for the combined effects of a warmer climate in conjunction with an El Nino year, Day said.
