Help from the air to fight fire

Fire crews from across the Wakatipu were called to a fire in the Queenstown Hill area yesterday morning.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said reports started coming in just before 9.30am, but due to the "quite varied" reports of where the fire was, crews from Glenorchy, Arrowtown, Queenstown and Frankton were all dispatched to the area.

The spokesman said the fire, on farm land at Tucker Beach Rd, was in "an awkward spot" for crews to access, so a helicopter with a monsoon bucket was called in to assist in fully extinguishing it.

It grew to about 500m by 500m before being brought under control.