A teenage girl is in a critical condition after receiving an electric shock at a power substation in Nelson on Tuesday night.
Police say she climbed a security fence and a 10-metre pylon to reach live wires.
She was seen by patrons at a pub across the road when her clothes caught fire and she dropped to the ground.
Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne McCoy says the girl, 16, has been been transferred to a burns unit at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.
He described her injuries as life-threatening.
The incident caused a power blackout to several thousand houses in Nelson for up to 50 minutes.