A fire investigator visited the site on Monday to try to determine the cause, but a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said on Tuesday the investigation was ongoing.
The spokesman said crews responded to a scrub fire just before 2.45pm at South Hill, near the blue penguin colony. The fire grew to around 100m in size while crews worked to extinguish it.
Two helicopters with monsoon buckets assisted in getting the blaze under control and about 25 firefighters from seven crews attended. The fire was extinguished by Sunday night.
Fenz, with the assistance of police, evacuated people from properties threatened by the blaze. A nearby rest-home was also evacuated.
"It’s in the wrong place for where we have fires, because the trains, they idle along there.
"It was rolling downhill, so you don’t need to put power on to make sparks come out the chimney."
