Two vegetation fires near Tiwai Point which kept southern fire crews busy do not appear to be related.
About 5am yesterday, a suspicious car fire near Tiwai Point spread to vegetation.
Firefighting crews from Kingswell, Invercargill, Tiwai, Wallacetown and Hedgehope put it out, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) said.
Crews were at the Tiwai Rd site for more than two and a-half hours.
Police said there were reports the car was stolen.
Inquiries were ongoing to identify the person or people involved, a police spokesman said.
A Fenz spokesman said the initial firefighting response was provided by an appliance from Kingswell and a tanker from Invercargill.
An appliance was then called in from Invercargill and a water tanker from Wallacetown.
"They then worked to extinguish the car fire, but it also had spread to vegetation," the Fenz spokesman said.
Another appliance was called in from Invercargill and a water tanker from Hedgehope, the spokesman said.
"They have since extinguished the fire, both the car and the vegetation. And it has been treated as suspicious."
Yesterday evening, crews were called to a second vegetation fire on the Awarua Plains about 8.50pm after staff at Tiwai Smelter noticed the blaze.
Three fire engines from Invercargill, Kingswell and Tiwai and two tankers from Invercargill and Wallacetown responded to the fire.
A Fenz spokeswoman could not say how big the scrub fire was but it had been contained by 9.45pm and crews remained on the scene dampening down hot spots.
The fire appeared to have been started by a powerline, she said.
The spokeswoman said the two fires were in a "similar vicinity" but were "not obviously related".
