Overview
- The vegetation fire started near Lagoon Avenue at about 7:28pm on Saturday and raced through roughly 750 metres of trees and scrub on steep gullies beside houses.
- Police evacuated about 22 homes as flames, fanned by strong northwesterly winds, reached metres high and sent embers across properties.
- Fire and Emergency crews from across central Otago, using eight trucks and three support vehicles and reinforcements from Hawea, Tarras and Cromwell, contained the blaze after roughly two and a half hours.
- No houses were destroyed and there were no reports of serious injuries, but firefighters worked overnight on hotspots, flare-ups and ember-transfer risks while investigators look into the cause.
- The fire highlights local vulnerability from dry scrub bordering steep gullies and follows a MetService strong wind watch for the area, prompting warnings to take extra care with ash disposal and outdoor fires.