Man who died in Southland hut fire named

Nigel James Heron died on a private property near Tuatapere, west of Invercargill, early on Saturday morning. File photo

The man who died after a fire destroyed a hunters hut in Southland has been named by Police.

Nigel James Heron, 36, from Bluff, died on a private property near Tuatapere, west of Invercargill, early on Saturday morning.

It was earlier reported that two men were staying in the hut.

The other occupant escaped the blaze, southern fire communications shift manager Andrew Norris said.

The Fire Service was called to the scene at 1.45am, but due to the hut only being accessible by a 10km four-wheel-drive track, it took 65 minutes to get there.

Mr Norris said he believed the fire had been going for "some time" before emergency services were contacted, due to patchy cell phone reception in the area.

Police and the ambulance service also attended the incident. A specialist team is investigating the cause of the fire.

Keith McIntosh, the on-call commander for Southland and Wakatipu, told the Otago Daily Times that care was taken while putting out the fire to preserve evidence at the scene, and a skeleton crew guarded the scene overnight.

The death has now been referred to the coroner.