Fire crew response saves forest

A helicopter with a monsoon bucket backed up firefighters at a forest fire near Tinui yesterday.

Fire crews have been praised for swiftly responding to an out-of-season blaze at a forestry block near Tinui early yesterday.

The fire, which could potentially have caused millions of dollars' worth of damage to the 400ha block, occurred about 30km from Tinui on Tinui Valley Rd at about 3.15am.

An Amalgamated helicopter with monsoon buckets was brought in to control the fire, as well as appliances from Tinui, Castlepoint and Masterton, and a watertanker from Carterton were used.

Masterton fire station officer Kevin Smith said crews were still dampening down the 4ha fire at mid-morning.

The fire started in a cutover below a skid where trees were being logged.

Eighteen firefighters were called in to fight the blaze, as well as crews from Juken New Zealand (JNL) and Horne Logging.

The manager of the partnership that owns the block, John McKinstry, said he was extremely grateful to all those who helped, especially the fire crew from JNL.

"We have much appreciation for the turnout of people.

"The turnout and support we received was fantastic."

It was believed one of the wire hauler ropes, which was leaning on rocks, may have been the cause of the fire.

As the block was being harvested there was very little damage, he said.

"Luckily it never got up around the hauler because it costs about $2 million to replace.

"We were very lucky the wind didn't come up."

Wairarapa principal rural fire officer Phill Wishnowsky said: "Teams were able to get there in the middle of the night and stop the fire causing millions of dollars' worth of damage."

Forestry crews were normally careful and this kind of fire was quite unusual, Mr Wishnowsky said.

"It's not common but when they do happen they can be very, very troublesome and very, very expensive."

People were advised to be mindful of the changing conditions.

Fire crews were expected to remain on site until today to monitor the situation.

Summer fire restrictions are not yet in place for the Wairarapa rural fire district.