By daybreak this morning a fire at the Victoria Flats landfill, near the Kawarau Gorge, was under control after fire-fighters battled the blaze through the night, Queenstown Lakes District Council rural fire chief Chris Gregory said.

"It was a good response which resulted in a good save, particularly as there was potential there for the fire to be very bad with a lot of combustible material on site," Mr Gregory said.

The fire, which was within one kilometre of Department of Conservation land, making DOC the fire authority was believed to have started around 6pm, with emergency services called in at 8pm.

"It's possible the fire started after some refuse went into the landfill yesterday, possibly hot ash or some kind of burn debris," Mr Gregory said.

The fire was attended by the Arrowtown Rural Fire Party, Arrowtown and Frankton volunteer fire brigades, Lakes Contract Services staff and DOC staff.

"In all we had around 30 fire-fighters with four water tankers and a 20-tonne digger, working through the night," Mr Gregory said.

A helicopter and monsoon bucket was brought in early on in the evening after fire-fighters were rocked by an exploding LPG cylinder.

"Initially it was just too dangerous to get near the blaze," Mr Gregory said.

Both DOC and Mr Gregory paid tribute to the efforts of the fire-fighters.

"It was a good example of a successful multi-agency response," Mr Gregory said.

Landfill operator Scope Resources would now manage the situation with ongoing dampening down and monitoring likely to take place throughout the day.

ENDS

For further inquiries please contact Chris Gregory 0274 388 921 after 2pm.

By: Sarah