Evacuated Redwood Valley residents have been given the green light to return home after a second fire broke out in the region today.
Crews have now slowed the momentum of the new fire that broke out near Nelson but are still working to contain it and stop it from spreading. Photo: Facbeook / Tasman-Marlborough Fire Area
Nelson Civil Defence, firefighters and police are at the scene of the fire at Cut Hill Road, Moutere.
Fire incident controller Robin Thompson told Checkpoint the fire was contained, but had not been controlled or extinguished yet.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said multiple calls were received at about 1.15pm, after the fire was sighted near Moutere Highway.
Earlier this afternoon, 97 properties had to be evacuated after police asked those on a stretch of Moutere Highway - between Old Coach Road and Maisey Road - to leave the area.
Fire and Emergency said it was for most residents to go past the cordons again, on the provision that they would be ready to evacuate again at short notice.
But it is recommending that residents at five properties on the Moutere Highway do not return tonight, as a precautionary measure.
A small number of residents have also opted not to return home just yet.
Cordons remain in place at the intersections of Maisey Road and Moutere Highway, and Old Coach Road and Moutere Highway.
Tasman-Marlborough Fire Area service said there was still work to do with the helicopters and crews operating until nightfall and machinery on the ground overnight.
A fire investigation into the cause has also started.
At a meeting today, Fire and Emergency said at its height six helicopters, machinery, bulldozers and crews from the nearby Pigeon Valley fire, were sent to battle the blaze.
They reiterated that people thorughout the region should not undertake any risky activity, especially with the use of machinery or any activity that could ignite a fire.
Fire and Emergency has warned that it was important that all residents in other valleys stay vigilant and be prepared to evacuate at short notice if needed.
It said while the evacuation was a precaution, it was also necessary because at one stage the fire was less than 1km away from properties.
Photo: Facebook / Nelson Snippets
Dave Woon from Fire and Emergency said the fire was about 700m off the Moutere Highway in exotic pines and grass.
He said resources were pulled off from the Pigeon Valley fire, which was now largely out.
One business owner who has been told to evacuate told RNZ he could see a large smoke plume up the Redwood Valley.
Redwood Valley resident Beverly Frizzelle, who had just returned to her house after the Pigeon Valley fire, said she was nervously re-packing her bags after this new fire broke out.
Ms Frizzelle said she could see big flames and plumes of smoke in pine trees a couple of kilometres away from her house.
"It is growing, the wind is quite blustery and that's the danger. You can see, well my husband said fire storms starting up. If it's in a forestry block it's not good."
Redwood Valley resident Diarmuad Brazendale said he choked up when was told he would be evacuating again, days after getting the all clear to return after the Tasman fires.
"I guess when we got back we did feel, you know, a sense of great pleasure being back in our home despite [the fact] our land was pretty ravaged - there's no trees and there's no grass.
"We were in that kind of recovery stage but we're in a pretty arid dry spell at the moment so that was always a chance."
Massive fires forced mass evacuations in the Redwood Valley earlier this month. Today's fire came hours after the State of Civil Defence Emergency for the Tasman district fire expired.
Red Cross teams will also be available for support at the Civil Defence Centre located at New Life Church, 85 Wensley Road.
Dry spell adds to easy fire ignition in Nelson
Scion Rural Fire Research Group fire scientist Grant Pearce said the recent blaze showed how the dry spell made it much easier for breakouts to spread.
"Fire danger levels remain extremely high and among some of the worst ever recorded, indicating the potential for fires to start very easily, and spread quickly to become large fires that are very difficult to put out."
Mr Pearce said elevated fuel loads also contributed to easy fire ignition and spread.
"Combined with very dry soils, the dry fuels also contribute to very difficult and prolonged fire mop-up before smouldering, deep burning ground fuels are fully extinguished."
Since the start of this year, there's been a total of 20 days with very high forest fire danger and 9 days of extreme fire danger in Nelson.
"Long term records indicate the region averages around 9-10 days of very high and extreme each year, with the previous record being 17 days for the entire fire season," Mr Pearce said
Little relief from front approaching Nelson
A front is approaching the region tonight, but experts say it will not bring much relief.
"This evening's front produces very little for Nelson. Some in the Nelson region will get a sprinkle but it will be so little," MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said.
"Basically in the next five days, there's virtually nothing of note for Nelson in terms of rain. It looks very dry.
Ms Griffiths said the coming fortnight looked to be relatively dry for Nelson and did not look likely to yield decent rainfall.
"I did run the numbers and, according to the airport record which dates back to 1941, we are currently on track for Nelson to have the driest January and February on record with a total of 14mm of rainfall," she said.
"It's a bit unusual that we have seen these dry months back-to-back."