Fire and investigation ongoing

A fire on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, situated along the Kingston highway, is now entering into its fourth day, with a flare up last night causing an early morning callout for volunteer brigades in the area, Queenstown Lakes District Council principal rural fire chief Gordon Bailey said.


The fire, located approximately three kilometres from Wye Creek in the Kingston direction, was first detected on Sunday.


“We have since attended the fire on four more occasions with a flare up last night requiring the assistance of a helicopter with night vision technology and volunteer crews from DOC, Arrowtown, Frankton and Queenstown,” Mr Bailey said.


The fire was being contained in a stretch of vegetation situated between the lake shore and the highway. Further helicopters were called in later in the morning to continue dousing the flames and council and Delta ground crews were continuing to deal with ongoing hot spots.


“The bracken is tinder dry and it may not be possible to contain the fire for several days to come, already an area about a kilometre in length and 100m wide has been burnt,” Mr Bailey said.


The cost of the fire to date was estimated at more than $20,000.


“We are able to tap into the national rural fire fighting fund but we will certainly be looking to extract costs if we can pinpoint the cause of the fire,” Mr Bailey said.


Reports that two traction engines had travelled the road prior to the fire starting on Sunday had been looked into.


“At this stage investigations will be ongoing,” Mr Bailey said.


The council wanted to hear from anyone with relevant information that had travelled the road between 3-6pm on Sunday.


“It’s a big drain on resources and I would like to personally thank all those involved, particularly the volunteer brigade members for their contribution,” Mr Bailey said.


A complete district-wide fire ban is still in place and was not expected to be lifted until the area had enjoyed substantial rainfalls.


‘In particular it’s timely to remind Easter visitors to the area that the fire ban is still in place,” Mr Bailey said.