Pigeon Valley Fire update 63 - 13:30 hours 19/02/2019
19 February 2019
After discussions between Fire and Emergency, Police, the Civil Defence Controller and other agencies involved in the response, Mayor Richard Kempthorne has made the decision to extend the State of Civil Defence Emergency for a further week.
Mayor Richard Kempthorne says "The situation still requires a greater response than we could manage without all the assistance of the other agencies.
We currently still have 250 people evacuated from their homes and there are over 3500 who are in a continuous state of alert, prepared to evacuate again at short notice."
Conditional re-entry
All agencies are very aware that people have now been out of their homes for two weeks. This is leading to anxiety and stress, not to mention the economic impact on many.
Controller Roger ball says "Everyone has been actively planning for the day when we can allow residents to return home for more than a few hours. That involves a continuous assessment of risks, including the fire, the weather and the ability of our emergency services and Defence Force personnel to get people out safely and quickly if the situation deteriorates.
"I am very pleased to say that we are working towards a conditional re-entry for the residents of Teapot, Eves and Redwood Valleys from Thursday morning. This will be on the same basis as the other returned residents – that they remain ready to evacuate again at very short notice.
"Getting these Valley residents back to their properties is more complex than when we were able to get the Wakefield residents home. The Redwood, Teapot and Eves Valleys have all been directly affected by the fire.
We will be offering a detailed briefing for the Valley residents at tomorrow evening’s community meeting at the Hope Community Church, and I encourage as many as possible to attend this."
Community meeting at 6 pm tomorrow
The community meeting will be held tomorrow, Wednesday 20 February from 6 pm at the Hope Community Church in Ranzau Road.
Important health and safety information for anyone returning home will be discussed at the meeting. For anyone unable to attend the meeting, it will be live streamed on the Nelson Tasman Civil Defence Facebook page.
Further updates
Updates will be available on the Nelson Tasman Civil Defence website and facebook page, both Nelson City and Tasman District Council facebook pages and websites, and through Newstalk ZB 1341AM and BrianFm radio at 105.6 FM.
Ends.
Media Contact:
Nelson Tasman Civil Defence and Emergency Management
027 703 0409
Further updates will be provided as soon as it is available.