State of emergency declared as wildfires threaten New Zealand’s Christchurch

A local state of emergency was declared on Wednesday in the New Zealand city of Christchurch as wildfires threatened its suburbs and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.

“It’s gone from being a rural fire on the boundary between a city and a district, now to a city response being required,” Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel stated during an interview with Radio New Zealand. “Every window you look out of ... you can just see the pall of the smoke.”

Prime Minister Bill English reportedly announced that the New Zealand Defence Force is on standby, stating the fires are now “disturbingly close” to communities.

The Christchurch Civil Defence Emergency Operations Centre has been reactivated to assist in evacuations. The Mayors of Christchurch City and Selwyn District on New Zealand’s South Island made the decision to declare the state of emergency.

Residents of an outlying suburb of Christchurch were evacuated from their homes from 3am on Wednesday morning as wildfires on Port Hills threatened to engulf them, with further evacuations occurring throughout the day as the fires continued to burn.

Approximately 200 to 300 residents have since been affected by the evacuations, while tens of thousands of Christchurch homes suffered a power loss in the afternoon with the possibility of more power outages until the fires have been extinguished.