Island fire destroys cottage

Firefighters arrived on the island by runabouts. Photo/File

A caretaker's cottage has burned to the ground on Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands.

The alarm was raised just after 1am on Sunday but, by the time the nearest firefighters could get there - from Rawhiti, about 1km across the water - the cottage was burning fiercely.

Lance Johnston, deputy principal fire officer for the Northern Rural Fire Authority, said firefighters from Rawhiti's rural fire party used two private runabouts to get equipment out to the island and extinguish the blaze. It was too dark to send a helicopter.

With the cottage beyond saving, firefighters concentrated on dampening down and making sure the fire couldn't spread.

The cause had yet to be confirmed yesterday but Mr Johnston said the fire was not suspicious.

The caretaker, who he understood had tried in vain to put out the blaze, was unhurt.

Urupukapuka Island is managed by the Department of Conservation but the cottage was at Otehei Bay, which is leased to tourism company Explore NZ.