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Cause of 2024 Port Hills fire remains undetermined
A report released in late September locates the origin location of the February 2024 Christchurch vegetation fire, but fails to identify the cause.
A fire investigation report into the Port Hills fire, which started on 14 February 2024, has located a specific origin area on private property but the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
“Investigators were unable to identify a specific ignition source,” said District Commander Dave Stackhouse. As the cause of the fire cannot be proven to an acceptable level of certainty, it is classified as undetermined. However, if further information becomes available, the investigation will be reopened.”
District Commander Stackhouse says an examination of the scene identified a specific origin area of approximately five square metres, on private property about 50 metres off the side of Worsleys Road.
“The owner of the property where the fire originated cooperated with the investigation and advised that there had been no activity or equipment used on the day the fire started,” he said.
“Our legal advice is that, due to privacy reasons, Fire and Emergency is unable to release the specific origin area of the fire because it is on private property,” he said.
“Our investigation into the cause of the fire included three experienced wildfire investigators working alongside the New Zealand Police and who arrived in Christchurch the day after the fire started.
“They interviewed three witnesses who were in the vicinity of the fire when it started and were the first to report the fire to 111. They assessed photos and videos of the early stages of the fire which were sent in by the public or captured on CCTV,” he said.
“In the lead up to the fire, Canterbury was experiencing a warm, dry summer, combined with dry vegetation across the District. These conditions assisted in the ignition and spread of the fire.”
The fire occurred near Worsleys Road on the Christchurch Port Hills, burning through approximately 650 hectares and destroying a residential structure and various infrastructure, including causing some damage to the Christchurch Adventure Park.
The fire burnt across the Port Hills for three weeks and involved firefighters from across Canterbury, multiple aircraft and ground machinery, a large number of support and incident management personnel, and Fire and Emergency’s specialist drone team.
“Fire and Emergency extends its thanks to the many volunteers and staff who worked long hours to contain and extinguish the Port Hills fire,” said District Commander Stackhouse.
“We also want to acknowledge and thank partner agencies for their support throughout the response and the Port Hills residents and Christchurch community for their cooperation.
