As firefighters work to contain, suppress and extinguish the Port Hills blaze, some residents have been allowed back to survey the properties they evacuated as the flames rapidly encroached.
In total, 110 houses were evacuated as the fire took hold on Wednesday. All but 33 have now been cleared for residents to return.
The McGrath family were among those who fled when the flames started closing in on their Port Hills farm.
Brent McGrath said he was out working with son Jack when the drama unfolded.
“I pretty much smelled the smoke first, looked up at the hill, and there was this huge plume.
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“We just went into ‘we gotta get out of here’ mode because it was travelling pretty quickly.
“We got a few things out of the house, then the fire jumped from Worsleys Rd to Hoon Hay Valley Rd in about an hour.”
His wife Tania said the fire jumped over the valley frighteningly quickly.
“By 3.30pm police were on our property ushering us out.”
The couple said they were thankful the fire did not escalate as it did in 2017.
That fire ripped through their 1000-hectare farm and destroyed the majority of their property.
“I think if it wasn’t a northwesterly, it would’ve been a different story,” Brent McGrath said.
“We lost two houses and a lot of land [in 2017]. Thankfully, we aren’t in a similar spot.
“It’s a 90-year-old property; it’s been through three generations.”
After their experience in 2017, their response on Wednesday was “automatic”.
“We grabbed our pets, machinery, toys as fast as we could, and called our neighbours to let them know what was going on,” Brent McGrath said.
He said the fire and community response had been incredible.
“We can’t thank everyone enough for their support. Fire crews and helicopter crews have been amazing.”
Inside the cordon - fire crews say ‘it could have been a lot worse’
The Herald was among a group of media taken beyond the fire cordon today by authorities.
There are still 95 Fenz crew working on the hills alongside 22 trucks and tankers, 12 helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft and five diggers.
Their aim over the next 48-72 hours is to “hit it hard”, strengthening fire breaks and quashing hot spots in the hopes of getting to a position where residents can return to their homes and “get some normality”.
Among the firefighters is Canterbury High Country fire team crew leader Ewen Peat, who has been in the Hoon Hay Valley area since the fire started, working shifts as long as 12-15 hours.
“It’s going good – definitely could’ve been a lot worse,” he said. “It moved through this valley pretty quick.”
Peat, a volunteer firefighter who recently moved from Nelson, said conditions were “hot and intense” when he arrived on Wednesday.
On the first night, he went home about midnight and has been working long shifts since.
He said his partner was supportive and was looking after the seven children they have between them.
He was happy with the weather patterns at present.
“We all know that the weather can change pretty quick. As long as we have these good wind weather patterns we should be able to manage it pretty comfortably. We’ve got the right gear,” he told the Herald.
On the ground were teams from Le Bons Bay, Pines Beach and a couple from High Country.
Excavators were working through slash piles on the Kennedy’s Bush walking track.
“And then we’re going to work our way down to this large skid site down here this afternoon,” Peat said.
“We’ve got three helicopters coming to knock some heat out of that just so that we can get the machines in there and some people close to it.”
The work on the ground was “hot, hard and grunty and dusty”.
“A lot of handwork involved, a lot of handtools, it’s not just squirting heaps of water,” he said.
“The boys that have been working up on this rocky crop face today they have to break into the rocks and get into that deep-seated fire.”
The blaze got “very close” to a home in the valley.
The work the team had been doing was “physically and mentally draining”.
“It’s just making sure the guys rotate through their tasks and get plenty of water and electrolytes in them.
“We’ve got plenty of food and fruit being delivered. It’s just making sure everyone gets their welfare in as well.
“The guys have worked really hard ... our teams have been working in this valley since day one, feeling pretty good.
“We’re trained for it, we’re used to it, everyone here is physically fit, mentally fit. Everyone is good.”
Asked about the wind, Peat said “any wind is our enemy”.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s southerly, easterly or norwest. Any strong wind is going to push it in any direction.”
