PHOTO: DAVID WILLIAMSImagine fighting a fire bigger than Stewart Island - and it is just one of 207 wildfires burning across a vast, charred landscape. That is what a group of five Otago firefighters have just been facing in Canada. The Elephant Hill fire covers 1930sq km, and is being fought by more than 450 firefighters and 15 helicopters, stationed in two camps. Stewart Island, New Zealand's third-largest island, has a land area 1680sq km. The 28 days of firefighting were varied, he said, including front-line firefighting, mopping up work and blacking out areas.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 11, 2017 17:03 UTC