Canada wildfires huge learning curve for Whanganui firefighter

Blair Gray back in the Whanganui fire station's appliance bay after spending five weeks fighting wildfires in Canada.

On Monday morning Whanganui rural firefighter Blair Gray was enjoying a local barista coffee after spending the last five weeks drinking 48 bottles of water a day.

Mr Gray returned to Whanganui on Sunday after five exhausting weeks helping to fight the worst wildfires ever recorded in Canada. He was assigned to the Elephant Hill fire, estimated at nearly 190,000ha in size, in British Columbia.

"Most days we were working in 30 degree-plus heat and some days it was in the mid-40s," Mr Gray said.

"The wind was up to 50 or 60km/h some days which blew the embers and new fires would start. There were new ones popping up every day and no two days were the same."

The sector that Mr Gray and his four crew-mates from Taranaki and Ruapehu worked on was similar in size to the area from Whanganui East to Putiki and out to Warrengate Rd at Fordell. A total of about 40-50 firefighters worked on that sector.

"I was working with people from all around the world and it was a real privilege to work alongside some top guys. A week is a long fire for us in New Zealand but rural fire is a full-time job for some of them."

The firefighters were based in a tent camp about two hours' drive from their work sector. They worked for 14 days then had two days off before another 14-day stint. They were up at 5am every day for breakfast and a briefing on the day's plan and returned back to camp by 8.30pm.

"We had ongoing briefings throughout the day. With the weather changing, our plans had to change. Nine times out of 10, what you thought was going to happen didn't happen. You had to have your wits about you all the time."

Tasks ranged from the frontline attack of putting out fires to mopping up, putting in fire lines and containment lines and back-burning. It was hard manual labour and Mr Gray walked an average of 30km a day on the hilly terrain.

"In our camp alone we went through 90,000 litres of drinking water. I would drink 48 500ml bottles of water a day. It was so important to stay hydrated and healthy.

"It was a huge learning curve for me about fire behaviour - I learned something new every day. We used a lot of techniques that hadn't been done before. Fire retardant is usually dropped by air but we manually sprayed it through our forestry hose as well as the aerial drop. It was the first time ever that had been done and it was cool to be part of it."

Mr Gray, who has been part of the Whanganui rural fire team for four fire seasons, is keen for more overseas experience.

"I'm open to any deployments. It would be cool to have a Whanganui crew go and get some experience. I'd definitely jump on the wagon again if the opportunity arose."

Mr Gray is now taking a couple of weeks to relax before looking for employment.

The Elephant Hill wildfire is continuing to burn. When Mr Gray arrived in Canada it was about 10 per cent contained. It is now about 40 to 50 per cent contained.