Nelson bush fire: Second fire on Rabbit Island

Wednesday, 6 February 2019

Visitors are being asked to leave Rabbit Island, near Nelson city, where another forest fire has broken out. 

The new fire is north of the massive Pigeon Valley wildfire, which broke out on Tuesday afternoon and has since spread across more than 1870 hectares.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was alerted to the Rabbit Island fire about 2.30pm. Crews were sent from Nelson, Richmond and Brightwater.

'We are currently attacking the fire with three helicopters, two fire engines, three tankers and at least a dozen firefighters at the scene,' a FENZ spokeswoman said.

**READ MORE: 

* Rabbit Island fire site monitored

* Live: Nelson bush fire state of emergency - Helicopters attack the flames from above**

The cause was unknown, and at this stage it was thought to be unrelated to the Pigeon Valley bush fire that started on Tuesday afternoon.

A FENZ spokesman said the Rabbit Island fire was about 100 metres by 100m. It had broken out in young pine trees, and a fire investigator would be sent to determine the cause.

'We expect to contain that very shortly,' the spokesman said.

Rabbit Island is a popular beach and recreation reserve, but is also covered in forest. Civil Defence said people should to leave the island and neighbouring Rough Island immediately. 

A witness said he could see two fires on Rabbit Island, a larger blaze in the middle of the island and a smaller one near the Mapua end.

It is the second fire on Rabbit Island in the space of three weeks. In mid-January, firefighters responded to a 30-metre wide, 100m long blaze on the island while two helicopters dropped water from above.

A State of Emergency has been declared in Tasman due to the Pigeon Valley fire.