A "malacious" fire in the greenwaste pit by the Ranfurly rubbish dump, fanned by high winds, continued to be a problem for the Ranfurly Volunteer Fire Brigade yesterday.
Ranfurly Chief Fire Officer James Hazlett said a crew of 12 firefighters spent about two hours containing the fire on Sunday night and the fire continued to smoulder yesterday, meaning more volunteer time would be spent on it.
He was concerned someone had "dropped a match" in the pile of greenwaste on Sunday, when there were wind gusts of up to 100kmh.
"It will be recorded as a malicious fire," he said.
"It's annoying that someone would drop a match in there, especially considering the fire ban and high winds," Mr Hazlett said.
"We're all volunteers so callouts like this cost the community, really."
A tanker had to be used to get enough water to fight the fire.
"We probably dropped about 21,000 litres of water on it in two hours, " he said.
Sergeant Ian Kerrisk, of Alexandra, said police shared Mr Hazlett's concerns.
Although the incident had not been reported to police, they would take direction from the Fire Service on whether it was a matter requiring their attention, Sgt Kerrisk said.
