Historic hut survives backcountry blaze
All photos: Otago Fire and Emergency
Forty volunteer firefighters, helicopters and support crew extinguished a huge blaze on Skippers Road late last week.
The wildfire spread across 12 hectares of Long Gully, retired high country farmland which includes a large area of dead wilding pine trees, near Coronet Peak.
It was contained before it reached the historic Baldersons Cottage, which became Green Gate Hotel. It did, however, close several mountain bike tracks, including the Skippers Pack Track, the Coronet Loop below Greengate Saddle, the Pack Track and Sack Trail and Atley's Terrace Track, affecting Queenstown Bike Festival's HeliBike NZ Coronet Double Trouble event.
A fire investigator has examined the scene but the cause of the fire, which began on Thursday evening, is not yet known. Queenstown Lakes and other parts of Otago are now two weeks into the Prohibited Fire Season, which bans all outdoor fires and fireworks.
The fire risk was classed as extreme last week. Otago Fire and Emergency warned in the days before the blaze that fires will "start easily, spread rapidly and burn intensely right after ignition" and asked people to postpone any activities that generate heat or potential sparks, such as mowing, welding or chainsaw work.
Incident controller Nic McQuillan said crews were still on scene on Saturday dampening down three hot spots picked up by thermal imaging. A reconnaissance flight over the area that morning showed no signs of smoke, so Skippers Road reopened to the public with a stop/go. Mountain bikers were asked to stay off the trails until the crews had finished work.
"And for those wondering about the historic hut - here it is, undamaged, in the top photo," Otago FENZ said in its final update.
The hut lies along the path of the Old Skippers Track, the original track into the Shotover, and was built by John Balderson and his wife Margaret in 1864.
