A firefighter was injured yesterday while battling a blaze on board a former North Sea trawler some Careys Bay residents had previously warned was a fire risk.
Boat owners and residents of the small coastal community have questioned the state of disrepair of the abandoned trawler Neptune, labelling it a "hulking rust-bucket" and a "fire risk".
The fire is believed to have started from a discarded cigarette butt left on a pile at the end of a jetty, when strong southwesterlies might have caused the fire to spread to the trawler, about 2.30pm.
Up to a dozen firefighters with breathing apparatus and utilising more than 200m of hose battled the blaze in strong winds to stop it spreading further.
Port Chalmers Fire Chief Stephen Hill criticised the state of the Neptune, as firefighters battled to extinguish flames on the debris-littered foredeck.
"It is chock-a-block full of junk. The fire has caught hold on the front deck and burned through from there," he said.
A firefighter injured his back at the scene and was taken to Dunedin Hospital by a St John ambulance as a precautionary measure Southern region fire safety officer Stuart Ide said the fire was not being treated as suspicious although police were following a line of inquiry, and "we will see what they come up with".
It appeared the fire had started on the pile before spreading to the boat, where combustible items such as timber and tarpaulins were stored.
He confirmed it was the second time the pile had been damaged by fire.
The "timber was exceptionally dry", and the fire might have been caused by a discarded cigarette butt.
Yacht owner and local resident Bill McIndoe said he had long considered the Neptune to be a fire hazard, because of the "great stacks of old rope on board" and its abandoned status.
Mr McIndoe's yacht Avanti is moored near the Neptune.
He had raised his fire-risk concerns about the Neptune with the local fire brigade, but was told there was little the fire service could do.
Careys Bay boat builder Richard Taylor was one of several locals who watched firefighters battle the blaze from the wooden jetty berth where the Neptune was moored.
The suspected owner of the Neptune used to live on the ship, but was thought to have moved on to Tauranga, he said.
"It's a hulking rust-bucket and has been abandoned for the last eight months. The bloke who used to live on it was a hoarder and there's all sorts of rubbish on board," Mr Taylor said.
Photographer Sinead Jenkins said she was taking photographs of a bride and groom on the jetty when she saw the smoke.
The couple, who met in Dunedin and now live in Australia, continued to pose for photos as smoke bellowed behind them.
The vessel was moved to a repair berth last night, and Otago Regional Council staff were cleaning the area of any hazardous material.
The 1954 former Belgium-based vessel had been listed for sale on several internet sites as a restoration project.
