A car that caught fire sparked a scrub fire at Clay Cliffs near Omarama about midday yesterday.
No people were at risk, and the fire was not being treated as suspicious, but Omarama Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Terry Walsh said the 50m by 100m vegetation fire could have got out of control in the ''extremely dry'' conditions, if not for the solid effort from urban and rural Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) crews from Omarama.
''The guys had to work pretty hard to contain it before it got away and they did an amazing job,'' he said.
The car was ''completely destroyed'' and the Omarama crews fought the vegetation fire for about half an hour and had it contained about 12.30pm.
A crew from Twizel put out the car fire.
A Fenz spokesman said crews were called to the blaze at Clay Cliffs about 25km from Omarama about 11.40am yesterday.
A helicopter in the Otematata area was dispatched, but the fire was under control by the time it arrived.
An investigation into the cause of fire was under way, Mr Walsh said.
