Doc biodiversity threats programme manager Mark Mawhinney is in charge of the Wakatipu area office in its role as a rural fire authority.
"The Fire Service asked us to attend the fire on the delta below the airport and we asked the parks section of the council to help us out to develop their skills and experience on the fire-line," he said.
"We got seven Doc staff and three from QLDC, both are rural fire authorities; together with two water tankers from the Fire Service.
"It was a relatively small fire but very intense with thick black smoke.
"The guy was burning hardwood off-cuts but the fire had escaped into about 100 tyres and he called 111.
People require a fire permit to burn here so he could be prosecuted."
Mr Mawhinney said that the man would certainly receive a bill of around $3000 for the extinguishing of the fire.
In total, 18 Doc staff guard against fire across 235,000ha of department-administered land.
Blazes can start without warning and threaten communities and property.
Members of the public are often the first to notice smoke trails in rural areas and call the Fire Service.
Fire chiefs dispatch brigades as a first response and will alert Doc if the flare-up is on conservation land or within its 1km buffer zone.
Mr Mawhinney consults his colleagues and fire communications in Christchurch and, if the blaze lasts longer than two hours, will take over firefighting duties to free the brigade for urban calls.
Mr Mawhinney said Doc firefighters were kitted out with fire-resistant orange and yellow overalls, helmets and boots.
The gear was lighter in weight than that of the Fire Service for ease of manoeuvrability, he said.
"We carry portable high-pressure water pumps from department trucks to the fire site and pipe them from a natural water source or a 10,000 litre tanker."
Water is turned into foam so it clings to vegetation and extinguishes flames more effectively.
Percolating hoses are used as they are less flammable.
The rural fire authority can also call upon helicopters to drop water on to fires.
The Wakatipu Doc firefighters tackle on average five conflagrations a year on conservation land.
Often it takes an hour to get to the fire site.
Fires are usually started by human activity.
However, an electrocuted possum apparently triggered the Rastus Burn fire in 2007, and the cause of a 350ha fire at Doolans Creek, which burned for more than two days, is a mystery.
Mr Mawhinney said the most dramatic fire was at Closeburn three years ago.
"The incident involved Doc crews, police, council and the evacuation of dozens of people from Alpine Retreat and the Closeburn community.
"The cause was suspected to be fireworks.
"It destroyed less than 100ha but it burned through mature pine trees and melted the roofing of one house."
"It took half a dozen helicopters and five ground crews to bring it under control."
Mr Mawhinney said the Doc team was preparing for the busy fire season, which starts in November.
He was looking to forge closer links with the Fire Service, the Queenstown Lakes District Council and other rural fire authorities.
Doc is very aware of hot spots, such as the Remarkables.
Communities surrounded by vegetation were also at risk, Mr Mawhinney said.
