Fire and Emergency is set to start scaling back its response at the West Melton and Kirwee fires tomorrow, following significant progress made by crews on the ground.

Incident Commander Dave Key said firefighters faced tough conditions today as they worked to extinguish hotspots across both sites.

“Today has been a hard graft with hand tools, getting in amongst the trees and putting out hotspots,” Key said.

Tonight, drones will be deployed to survey both fire sites for remaining hotspots. Based on the data collected, crews are likely to be reduced tomorrow, as the bulk of the work is expected to be completed by the end of today.

The fires will be reassessed over the next couple of days, with the goal of handing the sites back to landowners during that time.

Key expressed gratitude to the firefighters for their tireless efforts over the past week and called on the public to exercise caution to prevent further fires.

“We’d like to remind people across Canterbury who have had fires to ensure they check these previous burns. We suggest extinguishing and raking out these areas,” he said.

“It doesn’t take too much for the wind to come up and fan those fires and blow those embers, causing reignition. Morale is still high among the crews, but of course, everyone is getting a wee bit tired, so it would be good to have a break from fighting these fires.”

Fire investigators are currently working to determine the causes of both blazes.

At Bridge Hill, crews continued to extinguish hotspots, with further refinements made to the fire sizes:

•West Melton: 137 hectares with a perimeter of 13.5km.

•Kirwee: 12 hectares with a perimeter of 1.9km.