The Glenorchy road has reopened again as crews continue to fight a huge scrub fire that cut power to the township overnight.
Helicopters and fire crews from throughout Otago have been battling the 150ha blaze, which began near Lake Wakatipu at Rat Point, west of Queenstown, about 11.30pm on Tuesday.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council advised just after 5pm that the road had reopened. It was the second such announcement, after a flare-up prompted a closure following an initial reopening earlier this afternoon.
Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer Jamie Cowan told media this afternoon it was too early to say what caused the blaze, but there were reports it may have started at a lakefront campsite.
Police are working with Rural Fire authorities and want to hear from anyone who was around the Rat Point area, which is accessible by vehicles as well as boats and a known campsite, last night.
The fire began at the lake edge, Mr Cowan said, and quickly jumped the Glenorchy Rd, heading up a ridge face to an area called Jessie Peak, about 1000 metres above sea level.
This afternoon, the fire was about 2.5km away from the nearest homes, at Bob’s Cove and Closeburn Station. About 1km of power poles and lines had been burned.
Mr Cowan said police had been on standby to begin doorknocking early this morning if evacuations had been likely, but that had not been necessary.
Dozens of motorists had to spend the night in Glenorchy after the fire stopped them from getting back to Queenstown. For a time, access to Glenorchy was by boat across Lake Wakatipu.
Power to Glenorchy was still out at 3pm and Delta engineers were assessing lines to establish when they could get the power back on.
Investigations would begin tomorrow, but for today the focus was on controlling and containing the fire, Mr Cowan said.
Mr Cowan said about 150ha of land was involved in a "high risk zone", mostly native scrub and trees and "particularly nasty terrain".
Winds of up to 90kmh had earlier been forecast, but gusts were now expected to peak around 70kmh, and rain was also expected, which would help firefighting efforts.
Crews from Glenorchy, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Luggate, and Alexandra have been brought in, and helicopters began flying with monsoon buckets from daybreak. About 50 ground crew were at the scene.
A motorist trapped on the Glenorchy side described the wall of fire as the biggest he's ever seen.
Jonny James was forced to hunker down in his vehicle for the night said he was one of many heading back to Queenstown along the scenic route whose journey was brought to an abrupt halt by a wall of fire.
"I headed down the road and I could see a massive orange cloud over the hills. She was raging on both sides of the road. It's definitely the biggest fire I've seen in my life."
Mr James told NZME up to 50 vehicles were parked along the main road on the Glenorchy side this morning.
Those who spent an uncomfortable night in their cars were this morning reviving weary bodies at the local hotel, drinking coffee and waiting for updates online to find out when they could get out, he said.
