Fire a threat to power

Firefighters in Christchurch will spend today dampening down hotspots after a suspicious scrub fire threatened the power supply to the top of the South Island yesterday.

Fire crews were alerted yesterday morning to the 19-hectare fire at McLeans Island, northwest of Christchurch. The fire was under three major Transpower transmission lines connecting power to the top of the South Island, threatening a power cut to all regions north of Waipara.

It is the second fire to jeopardise power supply within a month.

Three weeks ago a 12ha scrub fire in Ocean Bay, Port Underwood, threatened the power supply to the North Island after coming close to Transpower's Cook Strait cables. Transpower spokeswoman Rebecca Wilson said there were 12,000km of transmission lines, and fires often occurred under them.

Many were scrub fires, but also burnoffs from private-property owners, she said.

Marlborough Lines operations manager Brian Tapp said fire was always a risk during summer when the area was dry.

The three lines affected yesterday carry power from the Islington transfer station in Christchurch to Kaikoura, the West Coast, Nelson and Marlborough.

If the three power lines tripped, it would mean a blackout to all customers in the South Island north of Waipara, Mr Tapp said.

An option if one or two of the three transmission lines were affected was to switch off power in parts of Marlborough to reduce the load, Mr Tapp said.

Christchurch Metro Fire District assistant area commander Greg Crawford said three helicopters with monsoon buckets and 18 fire trucks and tankers were used to control the blaze, which might have been deliberately lit.

When news reached the fire crews that it was underneath transmission power lines, it worried the crews, he said. "It did give us a bit of a flutter."

- The Marlborough Express