The Department of Conservation (DoC) says a large fire on an island in Fiordland National Park was probably started by an illegal campfire.
[image:4301:full]The fire was at the southern end of Doubtful Island, at the entrance to Middle Fiord in Lake Te Anau, and burned one hectare of forest.
DoC staff and Southern Rural Fire battled the blaze for four hours on Monday to bring it under control.
A total fire ban is in place in the area, but DoC incident controller Ross Kerr says there are strong indications the fire was caused by a campfire that was not properly extinguished.
The department says kiwi were transferred onto the Doubtful Island group about 10 years ago but failed to thrive and are no longer actively managed on the island.
