FLYING HIGH

Helicopter pilot Toby Reid was fighting a blaze in Blenheim when news came of another fire closer to home – in Pigeon Valley, just a few kilometres from his family’s farm in Wakefield. By the time he arrived at the scene, it was already burning out of control.

“It became intense very quickly,” he says. “The speed at which it was moving was quite daunting and the wind, dryness and lack of humidity added to the danger. It was evident it was going to be one of the largest fires I’d ever seen.”

Toby wasted no time requesting support, including an urgent call to his father, Bill, who he’s employed since setting up Reid Helicopters with pilot wife Rachael in 2007. Bill was away in Wellington and couldn’t get a flight home till the next morning. As the plane approached Nelson, still flying above the clouds, he knew it didn’t bode well when he could smell smoke in the cabin. “I’ve fought many fires over the years but never one of this severity,” Bill says. “And never one so close to home.”

The blaze, believed to have been caused in the tinder-dry conditions by a spark