Department of Conservation (Doc) fire investigators from Queenstown, Alexandra and Dunedin are keeping an open mind on the cause of the large vegetation fire near Queenstown that posed a potential risk to homes on Tuesday.
"We have a number of witnesses we want to talk to and information to gather and we know there was a power outage," Doc Otago deputy principal rural fire officer Trevor Mitchell, of Dunedin, said.
"We know the fire started prior to 6am, when it was reported, and it could have been burning for some hours. We're hoping to talk to Delta ... The outage could have cause the fire, or the fire caused the outage, or there may have been another cause entirely."
When asked to comment on speculation the fire started on land belonging to Sir Peter Jackson, Doc Wakatipu fire investigator Jaime Cowan said it could not be determined without a land boundaries map and ownership was not part of the investigation.
