Large scrub fire threatens homes and closes SH1 in Canterbury

Three homes were evacuated and a shed was destroyed by the blaze near Burnham, which is covering around 30 hectares. It follows three other big fires in the Selwyn District in the past week, including a 980-hectare high country blaze at Bridge Hill that closed the highway linking Canterbury and the West Coast and resulted in evacuations. Incident controller Commander Dave Berry spoke to media near the scene of the Burnham fire a short time ago.