Fire crews have contained a second fire near Awarua Bay, south of Invercargill.
The initial blaze at Awarua wetlands has been going for a week, burning through more than 1300ha.
Yesterday morning a car fire under a transmission line power pylon on Tiwai Rd spread to dense manuka scrub.
A helicopter and one crew were transferred to work on the fire before returning to the main fire.
Incident Controller Julian Tohiariki said the second fire was only contained thanks to quick work from Invercargill and Tiwai Point firefighters, and was being investigated.
Meanwhile, ground crews had faced challenging conditions at the weekend as they continued to contain and suppress the initial blaze.
Weather conditions were challenging and flare-ups were continuing around the area, Mr Tohiariki said.
The fire was contained within a 24km perimeter, but flare-ups were still occurring due to the large amount of flammable vegetation remaining.
He reiterated calls for people to stay well away from the fireground, where hazards ranged from deep ash pits to smouldering peat beds.
"People may be thinking that it’s safe to go there if they don’t see flames and plumes of smoke, but this is still an active fire and our crews need to be able to concentrate on their task rather than worrying about people trying to access their mai mais."
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said areas experiencing significant soil moisture deficits had expanded over much of Otago and remained across Southland, excluding Fiordland.
Niwa classifies such areas of soil dryness as hotspots, and said persistent hotspot regions had the potential to develop into drought.
While recent rainfall in Southland may have alleviated conditions somewhat, the region was still considered to be in the grips of drought.
Rain brought by the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fili were not expected to bring much relief to the south as only about 10mm to 20mm of rain are forecast to hit the driest areas. — RNZ/Additional reporting Andrew Marshall
