Backfiring model aeroplane sparks major Central Otago blaze

A helicopter drops water taken from a nearby vineyard on to remaining hot spots as firefighters look on. Photo/ODT

A backfiring model aeroplane started a fire that burned 25ha of grass at Lowburn, Central Otago, yesterday.

It was one of several blazes across Otago that kept firefighters busy yesterday.

The Lowburn fire, which began at an airstrip in Sugarloaf Dr about 3.30pm, quickly got out of the control of the four people who were flying model aeroplanes, rural fire officer Pete Scarlet, of Alexandra, said.

The group often flew their models at the airfield and told firefighters their planes had backfired dozens of times before without causing a fire, Scarlet said.

But the grass catching fire showed how dry the area was and how easy it was to start a major blaze, he said.

The group tried to put out the fire, but quickly realised it was a hopeless task.

By 5pm the blaze was burning through the farm beside the airstrip on a 400m front and two helicopters were called in to help, though one was turned back.

The other, from Aspiring Helicopters in Wanaka, spent an hour helping 16 firefighters from Tarras, Alexandra, Luggate and Cromwell put out the blaze.

There was concern the fire was threatening a house at one stage, and it jumped from the grass into the undergrowth of some trees. But it was out before the trees burned.

''People really need to be aware of how dry it is, and how easily and fast something like this can happen,'' Scarlet said.

Sheep and beef farmer Peter Morton, whose farm the fire spread to, was worried about the fire getting to nearby trees and was impressed by the speed with which the firefighters responded as the situation could have been ''a lot worse''.

Meanwhile, near Ophir, a historic building converted into a holiday home was gutted by fire about 3.30pm.

The home in Booth Rd was converted from an old musterers' hut thought to date to the gold rush era, Alexandra Constable Toni Velenski said.

Two appliances and a fire tanker from Omakau and Alexandra attended, as well as a police unit that was in the area at the time.

No one was injured in the fire, which was thought to have caused by an old kerosene fridge, Velenski said.

The fire was out by about 4.30pm. The exterior mud-brick and corrugated iron walls were still standing, but it is understood the inside of the home was burned out.

In Queenstown, crews from Arrowtown and Frankton were called when cladding on a house in the suburb of Shotover Country caught fire about 5.30pm.

Fire risk management officer John Smalls said a pile of rubbish at the side of the house went up in flames, but he was unable to confirm the cause.

''People should take care at this time of year as the ground is very dry. Make sure your property is tidy and dispose of anything that could catch.''

Earlier yesterday, fire crews in Invercargill spent hours extinguishing a blaze that forced the evacuation of the Kelvin Hotel.

Firefighters were called after a fire on the basement level of the hotel triggered an alarm about 11.15am. They arrived to find the basement smoke-logged, a spokesman said.

Hotel guests were evacuated, and remained out of the building while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, the spokesman said.

Firefighters eventually left at 3.45pm. The cause of the blaze was yet to be determined, the spokesman said.