The blaze, which started in farmland near Mokuta about 2.30pm yesterday, was 800m long and 100m wide at its peak, Southern Rural Fire Service community engagement officer Sally Chesterfield said.
It burned through manuka scrub and had threatened to spread to a nearby pine plantation and into the Awarua Wetlands catchment, but was contained before it could do so, she said.
Helicopters from Te Anau, Glenorchy and Nokomai were called to help fight the blaze, as well as two fire crews from Invercargill, one from Kingswell and one from Waimahaka.
Five Southern Rural Fire Service crews were also on the job, with a total of 40 firefighters on the scene at one point.
The cause of the fire was not yet known, Miss Chesterfield said.
"The focus has been on controlling it. We'll do some investigations tomorrow.''
About 20 firefighters remained at the scene until just before 9pm yesterday, dampening down hot spots and maintaining a perimeter around the fire, she said.
"It's looking pretty good at the moment. There's just a couple of hot spots but we've got it pretty well under control.''
Fire crews would return to the area in the morning and there was nothing that could be done overnight, Miss Chesterfield said.
"If it flares up again, that's just bad luck.''
The public had been asked to stay away from the area last night but no-one had been injured in the fire, she said.
