Snow came to the assistance of firefighters tackling a blaze in inland Otago overnight.
Firefighters were alerted early today to a controlled burn which had gone out of control in vegetation at Ngapuna, north of Middlemarch, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said.
Volunteers from Middlemarch were initially called to the scene, near State Highway 87, about 12:16am.
The fire was apparently burning in tussock, on the side of the Rock and Pillar Range, and the area out of control may have been about 5ha, another spokesman said.
A helicopter was sent in at first light today to check the area and it was found that snow had fallen, containing the fire, and making further firefighting action unnecessary, the spokesman said.
"We left it to the snow,'' he said.
