It’s day three of the Port Hills fire in Christchurch and over half of the overall affected area has been contained.
Still, there are 95 firefighters still working, along with 12 helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft.
The large fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon in the Worsley area.
Although the fire is 70% contained, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell says it will take weeks to “get the fire completely out”.
Disability Commissioner Prudence Walker is also there making sure members of the disability community’s rights are upheld in terms of the help they can get.
“We’ve seen of course over the last few years a lot of emergency situations and I’ve been involved in some of those, which were different from this one,” she says.
“But we need to make sure that the rights of disabled people, Tangata Whaikaha Māori are upheld in these emergency situations and that they get the same access to emergency management as everybody else,” she says.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger is proud of how quickly locals rallied together to take care of the people in their area.
“The most important thing is that everyone is safe. One of the things I’d like to say is we came out of the blocks really early as far as the state of emergency is concerned.”
“It’s really important to give police and all of the emergency services power to do what they do best. We don’t want to be a road block in front of them Let them get out there and do what they do,” he says.
According to FENZ (Fire and Emergency New Zealand), one house and several sheds have been destroyed by the fire.
An older man, John Joseph, was rescued from his property by firefighters but says he did not have enough time to get medication or anything else.
“The Bible is the only thing I have taken - that’s the most important thing.”
Some residents have been permitted to return to their homes, with the majority expected to be allowed back by tonight.
A community hub has been established at the base of Worsley Road for support and coordination.
Forest and Rural Fire Association of New Zealand’'s Nathan Curry believes firefighters shouldn’t be complacent as humidity is a big problem and the moisture in the air is low, which he says is bad.
“The wind is not helping us. It has died down a wee bit but, the wind is a big issue for us.”
To keep up to date on the fires go to the FENZ website.
