22 Jul 2012

Blaze burns through Otago farmland

5:01 pm on 22 July 2012

An infra-red camera will be used to check for hot spots following a blaze in central Otago which has burnt through about 1500 hectares of farmland.

Dunedin City Council's principal Rural Fire Officer Graeme Still says the fire was sparked by a controlled burn near Hyde late on Friday afternoon.

He says the land affected is mainly tussock, along with about 50 hectares of a private pine plantation and 26 hectares of a company plantation.

Mr Still says the fire was contained on Saturday afternoon, and crews have spent Sunday damping down hot spots.

He says unless it rains there will be a skeleton crew in the forest block for about a week, depending on what the camera finds.

Mr Still says about 40 ground crew were involved in containing the fire at its peak, and six helicopters were used.