Glenorchy Road Fire Update #6

1130, Wednesday 11 January 2017

The fire that has closed the Glenorchy Road and cut power to Glenorchy appears to have started at a campsite at Rat Point, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer Jamie Cowan said it was too soon to say what had caused the blaze. Investigations will begin tomorrow but for today the focus is on controlling and containing the fire.

About 150ha is involved in the fire, mostly native scrub and trees on very steep terrain.

Eight helicopters and about 50 ground crew have been deployed, from all over Otago.

Mr Cowan said that once the active fire had been extinguished near the roadside, the Glenorchy Road would be assessed by engineers to ensure it was safe before it could be reopened. Once that happened, crews could get access to start repairing the Glenorchy electricity supply. About 1km of powerpoles and lines have been burned.

With a deteriorating weather forecast, Mr Cowan said efforts were concentrated on containing the fire this morning. Winds gusting up to 90km/hr are predicted for this afternoon, with rain later tonight.

Fire crews are being rotated as the operation is expected to last for three to five days. This was because of the difficulty of fully extinguishing fire in the native vegetation on steep slopes. Mr Cowan said the safety of fire crews was paramount.

At this stage the fire is about 2.5km away from the nearest homes, at Bob’s Cove and Closeburn Station. Mr Cowan said that police had been on standby to begin doorknocking early this morning if evacuations had been likely, but that had not been necessary.

The fire danger in Queenstown Lakes District is high and incoming Incident Controller Phil Marsh – the Principal Rural Fire Officer for Otago – said that today’s fire was a sharp reminder of why campfires were currently banned.

A further update will be issued at 2.30pm, or earlier if an opening time for the Glenorchy Road is confirmed.

Photographs from this morning are available here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7uVtw1xaNUfbFZXZ3dEMjZRbVU

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