WELLINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand fire crews were responding to a large vegetation fire in the Port Hills near Christchurch, covering about 650 hectares, Fire and Emergency New Zealand said on Thursday.
A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday hours after the large fire broke out, seven years after the devastating February 2017 fires that burned more than 1,600 hectares of land in the Port Hills, claiming the life of one firefighter and destroying nine homes and two other structures.
Wednesday's fire forced evacuations from 80 properties, with no homes having been lost in the blaze.
Local conditions in New Zealand's Canterbury in late summer this year were conducive to wildfire development, said Nathanael Melia, director and principal scientist at Climate Prescience, a climate change consultancy.
"In contrast to the stormy 2022/2023 summer, 2023/2024 is a big El Nino season, and the globe continues at record temperature levels," Melia said, adding ongoing drought conditions above extreme fire risk thresholds are the background.
George Perry, a professor of the School of Environment, University of Auckland, said the changing climate is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires, and escalating the risks not just in rural areas but also where people feel more secure like the edges of cities.
"February, the end of summer, is when the vegetation is at its driest so that's providing good fuel for a wildfire," said Nicola Day, plant and fungal ecologist at the School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
This fire was a timely reminder of how to prepare for the combined effects of a warmer climate in conjunction with an El Nino year, Day said. ■
