A tyre blowout sparked a small vegetation fire on the Otematata Saddle yesterday afternoon.
The Otematata Volunteer Fire Brigade was called to the small grass fire on State Highway 83 about 5km west of Otematata at 1.04pm.
"It looks like [the vehicle] has had a blown tyre and the rim has skipped along the road and caused a few sparks,'' deputy chief fire officer Kevin Powell.
The fire was "very small'' and extinguished by the driver of the vehicle.
"They put it out themselves. We just went and doused it with a bit more water, to make sure it wouldn't reignite,'' Mr Powell said.
Five firefighters from the Otematata Volunteer Fire Brigade spent about 15 minutes at the scene.
