As thousands fled the fierce wildfires that ripped across Nelson last summer, Bill and Toby Reid were flying towards the flames. Fiona Terry talks to the father-and-son helicopter pilots about spending life in the air.

Helicopter pilot Toby Reid was fighting a blaze in Blenheim when news came of another fire closer to home – in Pigeon Valley, just a few kilometres from his family’s farm in Wakefield. By the time he arrived at the scene, it was already burning out of control.

“It became intense very quickly,” he says. “The speed at which it was moving was quite daunting and the wind, dryness and lack of humidity added to the danger. It was evident it was going to be one of the largest fires I’d ever seen.”

Toby wasted no time requesting support, including an urgent call to his father, Bill, who he’s employed since setting up Reid Helicopters with pilot wife Rachael in 2007. Bill was away in Wellington and couldn’t get a flight home till the next morning. As the plane approached Nelson, still flying above the clouds, he knew it didn’t bode well when he could smell smoke in the cabin. “I’ve fought many fires over the years but never one of this severity,” Bill says. “And never one so close to home.”

The blaze, believed to have been caused in the tinder-dry conditions by a spark from agricultural equipment, was fanned by southerly winds, sending a vast plume of smoke across the region. At night, the glow could be seen from Nelson city, more than 30km away.

On 6 February, the day after the fire broke out, a state of emergency was declared. The blaze would eventually sweep across 2300ha; thousands of people were evacuated from their homes and 23 helicopters were involved in what would become New Zealand’s largest aerial firefight.

Toby and his team shared the load, working shifts to ensure each had time away to rest. “It was incredible to be part of something that big and by the end of each break, you’d be really ready to get back up in the air,” says Bill. “The conditions were very intense, flying through smoke, dealing with soaring temperatures... Sometimes as a pilot you’re so close to the source you have to turn your face away from the heat, and it’s experience that helps you judge how close you can get without it melting something.”