A large blaze that threatened to tear through a forestry plantation south of Dunedin last night was "possibly suspicious".
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said reports were received of trees and possibly gorse on fire in Finlaysons Rd at Taieri Beach, near Taieri Mouth, about 8.40pm.
When volunteer crews from Milton and Waihola arrived on the scene, they found the fire was well involved and covering an area of about 300m by 200m, the spokeswoman said..
When they requested extra support, tankers from Balclutha and Lawrence were dispatched.
A situation report at 9.30pm indicated the fire was covering an area about 200m by 100m, with flames about 50m high.
Conditions were extremely windy and crews had to work to stop it spreading through a forestry block owned by Wenita Forest Products.
A command unit from Dunedin City station was also sent.
By 12.10am the fire was deemed contained and crews continued dampening down the area throughout the night.
The last appliance departed at 7am and the scene was left in the hands of Wenita Forest Products and a rural fire investigator.
It was possible the fire was suspicious, the spokeswoman said.
Wenita Forest Products chief executive David Cormack said the damage from the fire was ‘‘pretty minor’’ in the end and only about a third of a hectare of pine trees had been damaged.
He expected most trees would survive, as they were ‘‘pretty green’’ at the moment but it would take a couple of weeks to tell for sure.
