The worst of the fire at Mount Allan, near Dunedin, appears to be over, and firefighters from outside the district are heading home.
Dunedin City Council deputy principal rural fire officer Robin Jackson said last night calm weather conditions during the weekend had helped, though much hoped-for rain had not eventuated.
Rain is still forecast, and crews are hoping it arrives.
The huge fire in Wenita's 820ha Mount Allan Forest, northwest of Dunedin, started on Tuesday, and was understood to have been started through friction on a rope used on a log hauler.
It took three days of aerial assault using 10 helicopters with monsoon buckets and fixed wing firefighting aircraft to douse the worst of the blaze, and ground crews moved in on Thursday to clean up hot spots.
Mr Jackson said local fire crews and forestry teams would remain, and their priority was to extinguish burning "birds nests", or forestry products that had been pushed into piles after logging was completed.
That would be done with diggers, water tankers and fire crews.
The National Fire Incident team that had been in charge of the operation had finished its work, and personnel had gone home, and a regional team, headed by principal rural fire officer Graeme Still, had taken over.
