Fire Update 2pm

As of midday today the vegetation fire burning 25km south of Queenstown continued to be ‘well involved’ on the southern fire-front, QLDC principal rural fire chief Gordon Bailey said.


“With south westerly winds forecast for later today we have taken the decision to bring in additional resource to fight the fire,” Mr Bailey said.


From first light nine helicopters and four ground crews were deployed to fight the blaze.


“We have now called in an Iroquois helicopter from Oamaru and a BK helicopter from Christchurch,” Mr Bailey said.


Tactics had also been revised with a new bombing technique introduced with helicopters and monsoon buckets deluging hotspots, four abreast.


“In addition we are now actively creating a firebreak and have called in three 10 tonne diggers and chainsaws, although the terrain is largely scrub and tussock, there are some stands of trees,” Mr Bailey said.


With over 70 people involved, additional expertise had been enlisted to look at resource issues over the next 24 hours.


“We certainly hope to get on top of this fire by days end but there is no doubt we will continue to need crews over the next day or two to deal with any hot spots and mop up,” Mr Bailey said.


The fire, which was first detected on Sunday on the Lake Wakatipu side of the Kingston Highway, was now located in difficult and mountainous terrain, burning towards the south east from Lake Wakatipu into the Hector Mountains.


“Fortunately we have been able to contain the fire in the tops, preventing any spill over down into the Nevis Valley,’ Mr Bailey said.


An advisory had been issued requesting aircraft to stay out of the fire zone, due to the intensive helicopter activity. The Kingston highway remains open.


The fire was a multi-agency fire covering DOC estate and Queenstown Lakes District.


“With costs now into the hundreds of thousands, the council planned to bring in a formal fire investigator to determine the original cause of the fire,” Mr Bailey said. The council would also be making an application for costs to the National Rural Fire Fund.