Shortly before 3pm, a northwest breeze lifted embers from a controlled burn-off over about a 100m fire break and spread them into a neighbouring plantation, setting alight ground debris.
Waitaki emergency services manager Chris Raine said the fire covered an area 150m long and 30m deep. Initially, the Weston and Duntroon brigades were called, but they had difficulty reaching the fire across paddocks, having to cut fences to get to a ridge above it.
Because of that, and the need to get a lot of water fast, a helicopter with a monsoon bucket was called in early.
Weston brigade returned after a short time and Duntroon later, with about 10 firefighters from Waitaki Rural Fire still dampening hot spots about 5.30pm.
Mr Raine said the fire was a warning that despite snow and cold conditions recently, things were getting dry. People needed to take care with burn-offs and avoid lighting fires on "breezy days".
