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How does the size of the Christchurch fires compare? video

Fairfax NZ

The Port Hills fires are some of the biggest in recent New Zealand history.

While the Port Hills fires may pale in comparison to wildfires in New South Wales or California, by modern New Zealand standards, they're monstrous.

On Thursday, the Christchurch fires covered a total area of 2075.9 hectares, with a perimeter of about 30 kilometres.

To put this into context, that's the same area as 2000 full-size rugby fields, or more than 12 Hagley Parks.

Helicopters drop water near the adventure park at Port Hill.
IAIN MCGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ

Helicopters drop water near the adventure park at Port Hill.

They are so big, the smoke can be seen from space.

READ MORE:
Live: Christchurch Port Hills fire
Fires: Need-to-know-info
Owner watches on as home burns
Videos: Battling the blaze
Photos: Port Hills fire - day four

The fires have ripped through the dry Canterbury land, destroying 11 houses and forcing hundreds to evacuate.

The Christchurch fire is one of the largest in recent New Zealand history.

The Christchurch fire is one of the largest in recent New Zealand history.

Wildfire experts say these fires are some of the largest in New Zealand's recent history.

Scion fire researcher Grant Pearce said the area of the current fires make them the biggest since the December 2000 wildfire in Wither Hills, near Blenheim, and the 1999 Alexandra fires - both burnt more than 6000ha.

It was the largest in the Canterbury region since the Balmoral fire in 1955, Pearce said. This blaze took out 2991ha.

  • AREA OF FIRE
  • WHERE THE FIRES BEGAN
  • EVACUATION AREAS
  • CLOSED ROADS AND AREAS
  • AT-RISK AREA

Click on the features for more information.

 
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University of Auckland professor of environmental science George Perry said the Port Hills fires was "a very sizeable fire event for New Zealand in the modern context".

Each year about 6000ha is burnt by rural fires in New Zealand. The total area burnt in Canterbury fluctuates - in 1992 57.4ha burnt, while in 1995 1440ha succumbed to fire.

New Zealand has on average, 3000 wildfires a year and Canterbury accounts for 18 per cent of those, according to Scion research based on fires between 1991 and 2007.

 

FIERY PAST

Perry said large bush fires, which would dwarf the Port Hills fires, were common in the days of early settlers.

Some were caused by burn-offs but mostly the blazes came about from incidents at logging mills in the middle of North Island forests.

Throughout the 1940s there was a string of large bush fires.

In 1946, following a prolonged drought, a discarded cigarette butt sparked a wildfire in Taupo.

The fire was fanned by strong winds and burnt about 14,000ha of forest.

This fire caught the nation's attention and prompted the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1947 which laid the basis for a modern rural firefighting system.

IMPROVED FIREFIGHTING

Perry said people were more aware of the threat of fire nowadays.

Firefighting methods and technology had also improved, meaning wildfires could be better contained and extinguished, he said.

Those battling the flames could attack from the ground and air simultaneously - about 130 firefighters, 14 helicopters, three planes, additional crews with pumps and tankers, and rural crews were fighting the Christchurch fires on Thursday.

Improved weather forecasting methods and a better understanding of how fire behaved also helped stop the spread of wildfire.

GLOBAL SCALE

The Christchurch fires were large for New Zealand but they were dwarfed by the blazes seen in California and New South Wales, Perry said.

 

In 2016, a series of 6938 wildfires burnt 228,676ha of California land.

An average of 190,000ha of South Australia is burnt by bush bushfires every year. 

MAN-MADE DISASTER

Perry said New Zealand differed from Australia and California when it came to its ecology.

Wildfires happened naturally in Australia and California and the vegetation had evolved to deal with the fire and rejuvenate afterwards.

Fires started in New Zealand with settlers.

New Zealand's ecology was not made to deal with the events and after a large wildfire, highly flammable vegetation like gorse or manuka often grew.

If this happened in Christchurch it could mean the start of a cycle of wildfires, especially if the hot, dry weather continued.

It was important for people to be vigilant and aware of the potential for further fires.

 - Stuff

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