Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Port Hills Morning coverage.

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

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The Hits, with the Jono and Ben podcast. Thanks to Challenge, putting the service back into service stations. Yesterday a major fire and emergency unfolded in Christchurch with homes evacuated as a big fire on the city's Port Hills. And we wanted to find out the latest this morning, keep you up to date. We've got Blake Benny from Newstalk ZB with us. Good morning, Blake. How are you? Yeah, good, thanks. Yourself? You're good. Have you been up all night watching a fire? No. So quarter to three alarm, and I've been at the scene since

4.30 this morning. So I've been here for a wee while. Gee whiz. Bloody radio interns, hey? We get you working hard, my friend. What can you see right now? Is the fire subsiding, or? No. So it's at least 100 hectares in size and it's actually visible right across the city this morning. Now, to put into perspective for you guys, when driving into Christchurch this morning, the blaze, the glow was visible from the motorway up on the hills. It's that distinct orange fire line.

And of course, the fire broke out just after one o'clock yesterday afternoon in the area of Worsley's Road. So it's been burning for quite a while now. And actually, as I speak to you, I'm just sort of seeing those flames directly popping up in advance of the makings of the smoke on the hills. We've had social media posts show it's actually moved overnight. So it's now sort of over top of the Port Hills and is now visible on the southern side from the Governor's Bay area. Oh, jeez. At the moment, is it a direct threat to homes?

So a state of emergency is in force, of course, for Christchurch City, including Bantz Peninsula and the Stalwyn District. There have been evacuations for residents in Early Valley, Walsley Spur, Heungae Valley and Kennedy's Bush. No word yet on when they'll be able to return home. But so far, no homes have been lost at this stage. So I saw yesterday they had some helicopters and obviously over 100 firefighters.

Did they work through the night or did they have to stop for a bit? What happened there? Well, helicopters were grounded. They should be going back at sort of daybreak. So about 6 a.m. as expected, those numbers of firefighters will climb from 100 this morning. So there will actually be 23 trucks, 13 helicopters and two fitswing aircraft working at the scene this morning. Because it's not new, is it, to the Port Hills?

It's happened before. How is it compared to previous ones, Blake? Well, it's actually sort of too hard to say at this stage. That is the question on everyone's mind at the moment some residents sort of believe that this is a bit more ferocious in the quick spread others aren't so sure so that's something that hopefully fire officials will be able to sort of give a bit more intel on later this morning when they have their stand up. I know there was there was talk about keeping your windows and doors closed if you're near it obviously

can you smell smoke in the air? I mean, how close do you have to go for that? Where I am currently, there's sort of that just distinct smell of smoke and burning. I wouldn't say it's too noticeable at this stage, but again, it would differ from different parts of the city, just sort of depending on wind direction at this stage. There is, of course, public health warnings of people. If you can smell smoke, just keep your windows closed and just just be cautious of those sorts of things do they know how it started

no not at this stage that's something fire investigators are looking into and hopefully as time goes on that will be established one more question how old are you i'm 22 okay well you can stop doing such a bloody good job, all right? All right, mate? Don't come in here. You've got these young bucks coming in, 22 years old. Not once. We were trying to trip you up with weird questions,

and not once did he falter. Keep up the good work, mate. You're doing a great job. We appreciate your time this morning, and we're thinking of everyone in Christchurch this morning. It's a very, very scary situation, so take care of yourself. Cool. Thanks, Tim. The Hits, the Jono and Ben podcast.

Yesterday in Christchurch, a major fire and emergency has been unfolding with a huge fire on the port hills in Christchurch. Homes evacuated. Strong winds and a strong fire continues to develop over the city. 15 fire trucks, over 100 firefighters and dozens of helicopters working throughout the night to try and get this fire under control.

We'll have you more up-to-date details throughout the morning. But Brook has phoned through and you're right next to the fire where you live. How are you, mate? Pretty good, mate. Pretty good. The flames, are they coming near your property? No, I think the fire crews have been working all night

and currently we're just seeing smoke, so that's a good sign. So can you smell smoke where you are? Yeah, absolutely. Up the valley from us, probably, I don't know, it might be a kilometre away. It's not much for a fire, though, is it? It's not very far away. No, no, it's not that far.

Yeah, so is it quite scary to sort of go to sleep overnight when you know that there's a fire, a massive fire blazing not far away from your house? Yes, yes, it was. Yes, I, yeah, there was 12 helicopters parked outside the house last night. They all stopped at about 9pm last night and then they started again about quarter past six this morning. So it's a bit like living in a war zone at the moment, to be honest. There's helicopters constantly flying around, landing, taking off,

police everywhere. Yeah, it's crazy. And have you lived there for a while? This is because it's not a new thing for the Port Hills. No, I actually, we only moved into our new house here on Halloween. Yeah, like the real estate agent didn't tell us about this. No, no, they didn't. But, yeah, it's been amazing watching all the pilots.

I mean, we can't see fire crews from here so much, but yeah, it's been amazing. The response has been insane. There were 10 helicopters here within about two hours yesterday. Because they carry buckets of water, don't they? Where do they get the water from? Because you see that on the news, and it doesn't look like much water when they pour it on the fire but I imagine it's hundreds of litres.

Yeah, it's kind of deceiving. Like, the buckets are quite big when you actually see them up close but people are actually using swimming pools

so there's a swimming pool up the valley that I'm looking at right now which has a helicopter hovering over it refilling its tank as it's clean.

That's clever. Yeah. Now, Brooke, I know you've got some kids, and they're quite excited about all the helicopters and everything, but what have you been saying to them? How do you explain what's going on?

We sort of haven't really mentioned the fire heaps to them. It's more about all the helicopters and showing them the amazing work that everyone that's here is doing for us. So, yeah, they're at ease. They're not worried. Yeah, good. Smoke screening the actual fire there. Yeah.

Pretty much, pretty much. And obviously you would have been talking to neighbours and things and people who have experienced previous fires on the Port Hills. How are they comparing it? Well, it's probably a bit unique here because where we live is actually a new subdivision. So this has only been fully developed since the fires. So all of us residents in here, this is a new thing for us.

But having heard from a few of the people further up the hill and that, yeah, it does sound like it's definitely bringing up some pretty bad memories. Yeah, I can imagine. Well, we're thinking of everyone, including yourself. Do you think it's got better since yesterday, the fire, or is it hard to tell from where you're from? I have to say that it's, looking up the hill now,

it is just smoke I can see. I think, yeah, so the fire crews have obviously been working all through the night, and local contractors are up there digging fire breaks, and yeah, so I think it's probably been a very long night for a lot of people, but I definitely, yeah, without being a fire expert, I would say that we're on the right side of it. Oh, hopefully that's the case. Thanks so much for your time, and thank you for this morning.

Take care. The Hits, the Jono and Ben podcast. Good's the case. Thanks so much for your time and thank you for this morning. Take care. The Hits, the Jono and Ben podcast. Good morning, guys. How's things there? I mean, you've been broadcasting almost through the night as well, getting into work early this morning. What's the situation? Yeah, well, yesterday around quarter past two, of course, we know the road was sparked

around the Worsleys Road, West Morland area. Now, we'll start with some good news, guys. Residents who were evacuated and stayed the night at the Hawesville Library and Community Centre and Lincoln Community Centre, they were for a time escorted with police and fire crews and today will be allowed to visit home briefly to rescue any family heirlooms, any pets they may have left behind, medication they may have also left behind in the rush of the evacuation. And good news as well, no structures have been destroyed by the fire as of yet.

Obviously, let's hope it stays that way. We actually did hear from Emergency Management Canterbury this morning that in some cases firefighters may have actually saved some property. So they're doing an incredible job in containing this fire, or attempting to at least. No, because you said you left work last night at 10 o'clock and you could just see it clear as day, just burning away in the night. And the building you're in is in the central city.

Yeah, so our building is on Armagh Street, for those who know where Christchurch is, on the corner of Armagh and Manchester Street. Manchester Street, obviously popular for all the wrong reasons. But yes, you can look up from here and I can clearly see the hills as you can at all times. But last night when I left at 10 o'clock, obviously dark, the flames were honestly, it's hard to tell because we're so far away.

I don't know how far away I am from the hills, but they looked to be twice the size of trees in some cases. It's indescribable how bright they were. Like, yeah, honestly, just massive, massive fire. And the fact that you could see it from all this way is, yeah, a testament to how incredible this thing is. Now, we are expecting some stronger winds, norwesterlies and nor easterlies from around midday a 28 degree day in Christchurch as well we are crossing our fingers for some

possible showers on the cars tonight uh yeah it was a dewy morning in Christchurch but considering how hot it probably is up there I can't even imagine how hot it is up around the hills uh none of that would have had any impact on the fire whatsoever. And there's no idea what started it? Not at the moment, but fire and emergency are actually asking anyone who lives in the area, anyone who may have taken some photos and videos around the Port Hills between quarter to two and quarter to three yesterday afternoon, to actually email them through to porthills2024photos at fireandemergency.nz. That's to help out with the investigation.

They haven't hinted as to whether or not this fire is suspicious, but you'd be thinking with that email being set up for this that maybe this was, in fact, started by a loser, more or less. Even if it wasn't deliberately lit, it kind of has to be lit by a person, right? Because otherwise, where's it come from? Yeah, to be honest, it's been very dry in Christchurch and there's been prohibited fire restrictions

across Christchurch. Honestly, if you went into a helicopter or a plane and you flew over Christchurch, all you'd be looking at is desert-like conditions. That's how dry the summer has been, how hot the summer has been. And with El Nino, those winds have really dried everything out as well. So it's been a recipe for disaster.

And as you say, Megan, if someone has started this, obviously, it's a tinderbox and it's ignited into this massive flame. So it's a state of emergency in Christchurch. I guess it's sort of common sense if you're near the fire, you keep the windows and doors shut. And also, I was reading before, there um some people going up uh trying to take photos trying to get close and they're saying stay away you're kind of getting in the way of emergency services but also you can get so many good likes on instagram you know it's a bit of a conundrum

isn't it that's a fire emergency actually mentioned that this morning in the media stand up basically like everyone's trying to get their two seconds of fame on social media. Don't be a loser. Stay away. Especially drones. We've had problems with drones as well. Don't buy your drones in the area. Obviously, there are helicopters operating.

Today, there'll be, I believe, 15 helicopters in the air with monsoon buckets and also two fixed-wing aircraft laying water. Obviously, if the smoke is near you, stay inside, close your window. If you are at any risk of, you know, maybe you have a heart or a lung condition, be sensible, reduce outdoor exercise. And if you need to, health line's always available as well. If you're concerned, unless, of course, it's an emergency, then 111's the number to call.

Well, Connor, jeez, well done on remembering all that information. That was incredible. Well done. Keep safe out there, and thank you very much, Connor, from the Hitson Christchurch. Thanks, guys.