Christchurch fire forces 1,000 people to evacuate homes

Firefighters in New Zealand’s second-largest city have halted a wildfire after it burned down 11 houses in the outer suburbs and forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate.

A state of emergency had been declared in the city and neighbouring Selwyn District and the military deployed to help firefighters.

John Mackie, the civil defence controller for Christchurch, said about 130 firefighters on the ground assisted by more than a dozen helicopters had stopped the fire from encroaching further into the city.

At least 11 homes have already been destroyed and smoke spread across the city.

According to Mackie, the plan was to let it burn itself out, and that a forecast of rain over the weekend would help. He said the fire was spread over about 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) in Christchurch’s Port Hills.

Around 450 homes were officially evacuated on Thursday morning

The cause of the fire remained unknown and was being investigated, authorities said. The blaze started as two separate fires on Monday and was fanned by a wind change and merged into one blaze by Wednesday night.