Sergeant Blair Wilkinson said two 18-year-old males and a 19-year-old male were interviewed by police and formally warned for wilful damage after the fire was reported about 8.30pm on Saturday.
"There was a group of young people at the beach near the end of Beach Rd, and in our inquiries we have identified three males as being responsible for the irresponsible use of fireworks that caused the fire."
Sgt Wilkinson said there was no intention on the teenagers’ part to start a fire, but their actions were reckless.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) Waitaki group manager Mike Harrison said the fire started in scrub near the carpark at the end of Beach Rd, close to the now cordoned-off area due to coastal erosion, and spread quickly up the vegetation bank on to Beach Rd
"They requested some additional resources pretty early on, due to the need for water and a bit more resources out there, based on what they were seeing, and we had a really good response from our firefighters — they arrived pretty quickly."
A nearby Kakanui resident said that they watched "nervously" from their home as the fire spread.
"We saw the fire as it leapt up on to the bank. I kept thinking it’s so dry and it really worries me as Kakanui Beach Reserve near there and the pine trees on the golf course are also very, very dry and it wouldn’t take much for the fire to spread up our way further," the resident said.
The Beach Rd fire followed a fire in Oamaru’s Reservoir Rd at the start of last week, which police suspected was lit by "three carloads of young youths" consuming alcohol and letting off fireworks.
