An investigation is underway into the cause of a fire that destroyed a ranger’s house on Kapiti Island yesterday.

The single storey wooden dwelling, built at Rangatira during the mid-1990s, caught alight late yesterday afternoon. The ranger, one of two based on the island, had been working at the nearby historic whare when she arrived home to discover a fire that was fully ablaze around 4pm. Unable to contain it with a fire extinguisher she immediately called the Fire Service and the Department of Conservation, which manages the Kapiti Island Nature Reserve.

Ground fire crews from the Fire Service, which is responsible for dwelling fires, and DOC, which fights rural fires, were immediately despatched and flown to the island from Paraparaumu Beach by a Helipro BK helicopter. And a Squirrel helicopter was flown from the Helipro base in Wellington with a monsoon bucket. A Kapiti Coastguard vessel was also used to transport firefighters and equipment to the island.

“Our concern was that the fire in the building would spread to surrounding native vegetation,” DOC’s Wellington Conservator Alan McKenzie said.

“So we reacted very quickly with a ground crew of six DOC staff, and a helicopter with a monsoon bucket on standby. We were ready to put the vegetation out if it had spread, but fortunately it didn’t and the Fire Service quickly put out the dwelling fire using a fire pump.”

Water was pumped from the sea to the dwelling, a distance of around 200 metres.

Once the Fire Service was stood down, DOC fire crew went in and wet the entire area around the building site to ensure there would be no flare ups. They remained on the island overnight to monitor the situation.

Mr McKenzie and DOC’s Kapiti Area manager Ian Cooksley travelled to the island this morning to assess the damage, and Fire Service personnel were conducting an investigation on the island.

Mr McKenzie praised the actions of the ranger who “did all the right things”, immediately turning off the power and gas and alerting emergency services. She lost all her personal possessions in the fire, and is being supported by DOC who will be replacing all her equipment. DOC plans to rebuild the house which one of two ranger-houses at Rangatira.

Kapiti Island is an internationally-renowned nature reserve, home to a raft of threatened species, including little spotted kiwi. Any fire can pose a serious risk to the island’s conservation values.

The last remaining pests, rats, were removed from the island in the mid-1990s which has allowed the island’s ecosystems to flourish.

“We are very relieved that the ranger is safe, and that the fire has not damaged the island’s conservation values,” Mr McKenzie said.

“Our fire emergency plans have worked as intended and saved the nature reserve from damage.”

ENDS

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