Fire on the Tiwai Peninsula. Photo: Rita Baker
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) community readiness and recovery officer Sally Chesterfield said fire investigators arrived on the scene from Thursday but were still completing a more in-depth investigation.
A skeleton crew were still monitoring the site and dousing hotspots identified by thermal imagery.
At the peak of the fire, 10 helicopters doused it with monsoon buckets filled from Awarua Bay, while ground crews from Otago and Southland made a co-ordinated ground attack.
Fenz assistant commander and incident controller Bobby Lammont said the 2022 Awarua Wetlands fires informed their decision to quickly upscale their initial response in the early hours of Thursday morning.
While the fire passed beneath the smelter, high-tension power lines and smaller supply lines, they had all been inspected and deemed safe, he said.
Crews worked through Wednesday evening enlarging a firebreak to protect Tiwai Smelter in the event the wind shifted to push the fire towards the smelter.
The land surrounding the smelter is leased from and managed by Doc and makes up part of New Zealand's Conservation Estate.
Doc Murihiku operations manager John McCarrol said Doc staff would assess the area once it had been deemed safe.
Re-establishing a comprehensive predator control network would take priority.
"We can't provide a clear direction until we understand the scale and degree of damage."
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer said no rainfall had been recorded in the Tiwai region for the past month and only isolated showers were expected in the near future.
Fenz district manager Julian Tohiariki announced a restricted fire season for Southland on January 12 due to high temperatures and lower-than-normal rainfall.
The restricted season meant a permit was required for anyone wanting to light a fire in the open.
- By Toni McDonald
