Up to 40ha of Department of Conservation land was destroyed in the Hawea bush fire at the weekend.
The fire was under control, but damage to the area had still to be evaluated yesterday.
"We'll have an idea of the area affected in the next couple of days," Doc area manager Paul Hellebrekers said yesterday.
"We GPSed it on Saturday, but we haven't mapped it yet. We're probably looking at between 30 and 40 hectares.
"We had a mop-up of the area on Saturday, from first light till lunchtime, and put out a couple of hot spots," Mr Hellebrekers said.
"Staff will go around again first thing tomorrow [Monday] and check things out."
Mr Hellebrekers said a "significant area" of the Craig Burn reserve, including regenerating areas of beech forest, had burned.
The fire started when a permitted burn at Glen Dene Station on Friday was fanned by a northwesterly wind and escaped into Craig Burn gully, which is an access route into the Matatiaho Conservation Area.
The alarm was raised by a Glen Dene Station employee about 4pm on Friday.
Volunteer firefighters from the Wanaka, Lake Hawea and Luggate brigades supported the 10 Doc firefighters at the scene.
Five helicopters using monsoon buckets, two water tankers and a fire appliance also attended the blaze.
"It was a bit of a joint effort. We had a real mix of local fire brigades helping out, as well as a couple of local farmers helping us as well," Mr Hellebrekers said.
