Otago Rural Fire Deputy Principal Fire Officer Jamie Cowan said police wanted to speak to anyone who had information about a white van parked at Rat Point on Tuesday afternoon.
"Those responsible may have already left the scene on Tuesday evening thinking that their campfire was out, before wind blew hot embers into the surrounding dry vegetation and started the scrub fire."
There is a restricted fire season in the
Otago Rural Fire Authority’s lakes zone at present, meaning any outdoor fire within the zone requires a permit from the authority.
A prohibited fire season will come into effect in the authority’s central zone tomorrow.
"This is incredibly important from a safety perspective. If anyone had been camped in the Rat Point area when the fire spread, the consequences could have been much worse.
"Fires like this move at tremendous speed once they catch and are incredibly dangerous."
The fire, which started about 5km west of Bobs Cove, at Rat Point, was spotted by a farmer on the other side of Lake Wakatipu at 11.30pm on Tuesday.
At its peak, eight helicopters with monsoon buckets and 50 firefighters on the ground worked to contain the blaze.
The road between Queenstown and Glenorchy was closed for about 15 hours, and power was cut to 350 customers for almost 24 hours after six power poles were incinerated.
Delta initially expected reinstating the lines could take up to 48 hours, but managed to get power restored around midnight on Wednesday.
Mr Cowan said it would be at least a month before the full cost of the response was known, but it would be "in the hundreds of thousands".
It was too soon to say what action the authority might take.
Cost recovery and prosecution were two options.
"At the end of the day we just need to continue the inquiries and those decisions will be made at a later date."
Otago Rural Fire Principal Rural Fire Officer Phil Marsh said 10 ground staff monitored the fire overnight on Wednesday.
The situation was helped by the about 20mm of rain that had fallen since about 8.30pm on Wednesday.
While contained, the fire was not yet "out", Mr Marsh said.
"Our crews still have a lot of work to do to ensure it doesn’t flare back up and they will be working hard over the next few days to make sure it’s safe.
"The crews involved [on Wednesday] did an outstanding job and it’s a credit to their skill and professionalism that we’ve had over 50 people working alongside eight helicopters in a very demanding environment with no incidents or injuries."
Yesterday two ground crews continued to work in the area. A helicopter was used to ferry them and help with observations.
Mr Marsh said the Glenorchy-Queenstown road remained open, but drivers were advised to take care when driving through the area because it was still an "active operational zone".
Mr Cowan said one helicopter went to the site late yesterday afternoon for a "tidy-up", but the regional incident management team, comprising staff from the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Department of Conservation, Fire Service and Otago Rural Fire Authority, had been stood down.
The area would be monitored during the next few days before a thermal camera flight was carried out to ensure no hot spots remained.
Mr Marsh thanked the Wakatipu community for support during the operation.
"We’ve had offers of food and support from a number of businesses and it has been greatly received by everyone working to get the fire under control.
"Emergency services in this region are predominantly staffed with volunteers, so we thank both those people and their organisations for being so supportive."
● Otago Rural Fire Authority 027 530-5490, Queenstown police (03) 441-1600.tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz
