Three youths caught on CCTV taking selfies as they walked away from a forestry block fire have admitted to police they were behind the blaze.
The fire in Friends Hill Rd on the outskirts of Dunedin drew a substantial response as eight firefighting crews from Waihola to Waikouaiti were called to the scene about 10.30pm on Thursday.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond said police had spoken to three young people over the weekend who were in the area and have admitted lighting a fire to cook food.
Bond the fire spread in the dry undergrowth and the trio put a blanket over it but left before it was fully extinguished.
They would all be referred to police Youth Aid
Firefighters were able to suppress the flames before the blaze got out of hand, but Hunters Moon Boutique Farmstay owner John Nelson said with so much gorse and pine nearby to fuel the fire it could have been a significant fire if it spread into the Chain Hills.
Nelson admitted some puzzlement when he first saw light coming from the trees at the back of his property, about 60m from his bed and breakfast.
For a moment he thought it might have been people with torches in the forestry block.
However, as he approached the glow of light he realised what he was seeing was fire in the pines.
He roused his guests and raised the alarm.
"If it had got into the gorse, they’d still be fighting it today."
Only later did he realise the farmstay’s CCTV had captured footage of three young people, two females and a male, entering the property.
They wandered up the driveway, past the farmstay, and up into the forest block about 4pm, he said.
About five hours later they left the property and as they walked past the camera, they could be seen taking selfies and the audio in the video picked up the teens talking about a "fire", Nelson said.
It looked like the group had been cooking baked beans, but their campfire had got out of control.
His neighbour, Rick Sawyer, helped firefighters haul hoses up the hill.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the response to the fire had been "substantial".
Initially, crews responded from Mosgiel, Lookout Point and Wakari.
They called for extra assistance and a second truck from Mosgiel was sent, a tanker from Portobello, a truck from Roslyn, as well as tankers from Waihola and Waikouaiti, about 45km away.
The fire was extinguished about 11.30pm and crews remained on the scene mopping up hot spots until about 1am.
A fire investigator returned yesterday morning, he said.
Assistant commander Jason Sarich said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.
Fenz had an idea of what caused the fire, but had to follow the processes to "see where it leads".
