Firefighters in a small Canterbury township were called after a blaze in a burn-out vehicle mysteriously re-ignited on Sunday.
Members of the Darfield Volunteer Fire Brigade were called to the blaze at 2.33pm. A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said the car had initially caught fire on Saturday night but then somehow it had re-ignited.
She said the car had no registration number and was likely dumped in the area.
While the fire may have re-ignited by itself, the spokeswoman said the cause is not yet known.
"We can't rule out anything," she said.
Police have been notified of the incident.
Last month, a vehicle crashed into a paddock at the intersection of Birchs and Tancreds Rds and caught fire. The occupants fled the scene before fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Concerns have also been raised in the area that people and property could be put at risk from stolen vehicles being dumped and set alight.
At the time, Senior Sergeant Dean Harker said it was difficult to catch people setting fire to vehicles.
"The (Waimakariri River) is just a dumping ground for cars stolen from Christchurch basically.
"We work with ECan but it is difficult to trace the vehicles back to anyone,” he said.
