A pine plantation on a farm near Palmerston has been handed back to the farm's owner, who will now keep a watch in case a fire, which broke out on Saturday, starts again.
The fire burnt about 7ha of a pine plantation on the Meadowbank farm and, at its peak, was being fought by two helicopters, with Waitaki rural fire and Kakanui crews on the ground.
Waitaki principal rural fire officer Steve Cooper said a team of four fire fighters went over the burnt area again yesterday morning looking for any remaining hot spots.
"We concentrated on the perimeter, but there may be some hot spots left in the middle," he said.
At noon, they handed the watch back to farmer Geoff McLelland, but will return today to check again for hot spots.
The cold southwest change on Tuesday lowered ground temperatures and brought a small amount of rain which would have helped to dampen the area down, but the benefits could disappear quickly with winds.
On Tuesday night, fire crews withdrew and left monitoring the area to Mr McLelland.
During the next few days, the area would continue to be monitored and fire crews sent back in to check if temperatures and wind rose.
Mr McLelland would also keep a watch on the fire area.
It would be some time before the fire was officially declared out.
