Skyline Enterprises Ltd says its has firefighting measures in place should the gondola building be at risk from a fire on Bobs Peak.
Skyline managing director Ken Matthews was asked for his reaction to comments heard in a Queenstown Lakes District Council committee meeting last week.
The Skyline building would be engulfed by flames in "four to six minutes" if fire broke out at the base of Bobs Peak in dry summer conditions. That was the concern voiced by QLDC emergency management officer Brendan Winder during the community services committee meeting, to the surprise of councillors.
Mr Matthews said the company had participated in the formation of the Queenstown urban wild fire response plan with the Queenstown Fire Brigade, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Department of Conservation (Doc).
In a worst-case scenario, one of the first actions would be to close the gondola, Mr Matthews said.
The gondola building had sprinklers throughout, had its own water supply and could use water tanks at the rear, which held "significant reserves" for firefighting.
Firefighters could reach the building via the Skyline access road, he said.
"We have a plan that has been vetted by the respective authorities, and we're happy with it," he said.
Doc rural fire programme manager Mark Mawhinney said the scenario described by Mr Winder was an extreme situation and a host of factors were needed for it to arise.
"It's possible, with factors like wind and a prolonged period of drying, so that all the fuels are there for burning. A whole combination of factors need to come together before the event they describe could happen," Mr Mawhinney said.
In a typical scenario, a fire would be reported by the public through the 111 system and the fire service would respond. If the service considered the blaze a rural fire, staff would page the QLDC and Doc, the two rural fire authorities for the district, he said.
"We take that call and are given information on where the fire is and that would activate our Queenstown urban wild fire response plan, depending on where the fire is."
Mr Mawhinney said where the fire was determined the type of response, which ranged from evacuation to public advisement.
The plan, also known as "Red Zone", took into account how long a fire would take to spread, and factored in topography and fuels, he said.
Bobs Peak was one of many locations in the district where rural and urban areas met, he said.
