Rural firefighting costs for the wildfires that raged over the Port Hills of Christchurch have come to a total of $7.9m, the majority of which will be covered by insurance.
The figure covers all rural firefighting costs by the rural fire authorities Selwyn District Council and the Department of Conservation (DOC), and does not include costs incurred by New Zealand Fire Service (now Fire Emergency NZ).
A major part of the $7.4m costs will be covered through insurance with the Rural Fire Fighting Fund, with both the Council and DOC paying for their own insurance excess of $195,000 along with other non-claimable costs (such as the cost of preparing the claim) which were roughly at $175,000.
The costs also do not include Civil Defence costs incurred by Selwyn District Council or Christchurch City Council.
For costs not covered by the Selwyn District Council's insurance, it will be funded from its 2016/17 operating expenditure.
Selwyn Mayor commented that the costs reflect the significant scale of the firefighting operation.
"The Council also acknowledges that during this extended firefighting operation a substantial number of Council staff were diverted from their normal duties to work on this huge firefighting operation.
"We’re now back to business as usual but I would like to thank our Selwyn residents for their understanding, and for the support they showed to those involved in the firefighting efforts."
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