Dozens of firefighters remain at the site of a scrub fire on the Lewis Pass Road in Canterbury, working to extinguish the blaze that forced evacuations yesterday.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) said reports of the Island Hills fire on State Highway 7 first came in at 2.30pm on Saturday.
The blaze spread to 40 hectares and three nearby nearby properties were evacuated.
The fire was contained on Sunday morning, and 30 firefighters were working on the fire today, supported by helicopters and an excavator, Fenz said.
Assistant commander Dave Key said evacuees had been allowed to return home late last night.
"No houses or other structures were lost overnight, and crews are continuing to carry out structure protection today. The size of the fireground remains at 40 hectares," he said.
"We worked with local farmers to move their stock out of the immediate area."
The Lewis Pass on State Highway 7 has reopened, but with a 30kmh speed limit.
Fenz warned that people driving through the area should expect to see smoke, and may observe flames, at times.
Fire investigators were at the scene looking into what caused the blaze, and anyone with information about the fire, or footage, was urged to get in contact.
"This is very helpful for our fire investigators, so if anyone else has information or footage from yesterday, please email canterbury-crrteam@fireandemergency.nz or message our Canterbury District Facebook page," Key said.
"It's important to remember that even though we've had higher than usual rainfall and lower temperatures than usual in parts of Canterbury it is still extremely dry and we are still in a restricted fire season."
