Several more spot fires caused by the relaunched Kingston Flier were swiftly put out yesterday, and fire officials and the steam train's owner say there is no cause for concern.
The Queenstown fire service responded to a callout to two spot fires at 10.47am, but was stood down when Kingston volunteer firefighters quickly took care of the blazes.
A spark from the train was thought to have caused a 3ha-4ha vegetation fire on December 23, which took firefighters and a helicopter more than seven hours to douse. Kingston Flier owner David Bryce yesterday told the Otago Daily Times he and his team were doing all they could to avoid any further fires.
Since the December fire, mesh had been fitted to the top of the loco's funnel, the ash collector was regularly maintained and a spray nozzle had been fitted underneath the train to spread water.
"It seems to have eliminated about 95% of the issues but we still have the odd one here and there," Mr Bryce said.
"It's inconvenient for them [the Kingston Volunteer Fire Brigade] I know, but everyone in the community is happy to see the train running again."
Mr Bryce said his two sons had joined the Kingston volunteer crew during their University of Otago holidays and he attended every fire to see what could be done.
Southern Fire Communications shift manager Brent Dun said railway fires, the largest of yesterday's measuring about 20m by 5m, were "relatively common" and were not a cause for concern.
