A large vegetation fire that forced more than 20 homes in Wānaka to be evacuated over the weekend is being treated as suspicious, Fire and Emergency NZ says.
The blaze in Albert Town burned through an extended belt of trees and native vegetation on Saturday night, threatening several properties on Lagoon Ave, Hunt Pl and McLellan Pl.
Eight fire crews battled the flames in windy conditions for around two-and-a-half hours from 7.30pm, with rain assisting firefighters in getting the inferno contained by 10pm.
No houses caught fire, although several gardens were scorched.
FENZ Otago community risk manager James Knapp said the origin and cause of the fire was being treated as suspicious.
Specialist fire investigators on the ground today were interested to hear from people who were in the area shortly before the fire was reported at 7.28pm, he said.
"They would also appreciate any photographs or video footage of the early stages of the fire. The period of particular interest is the half hour between 7.15pm and 7.45pm. The area of most interest for photographs and footage is at the lagoon end of the reserve south of Lagoon Avenue. Information will be treated in confidence."
The email address to make contact with the fire investigation team is: OtagoDistrictCRM@fireandemergency.nz
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