Volunteer firefighters in Oamaru were woken early yesterday after a month-old burn-off reignited.
The Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade was called at 3.28am to a Bushy Beach Rd property, where a four-to-five-week-old burn-off in a hole had reignited in the wind, sending embers flying.
Otago Rural Fire Authority Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer Kerry O'Neill said there was nothing the farmer could have done to prevent the burn-off reigniting.
"It was just the way the wind was blowing. It was a southerly and it was blowing all of the embers straight out of the hole towards a row of macrocarpa trees,'' Mr O'Neill said.
A neighbour's prompt response in calling 111 helped minimise the effects of the fire, he said.
Firefighters spent about an hour at the scene.
