Dog alerted owner who raised alarm about devastating Lake Ōhau fire

A dog who alerted its owner to the massive blaze burning at Lake Ōhau, in Mckenzie District, almost certainly saved lives.

Between 40 and 50 structures have been destroyed in the blaze, which is believed to have burned through 5000 hectares so far.

Hundreds of people have had to flee from their homes since the fire started in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher this morning told TVNZ1's Breakfast the "minor miracle" in the devastating event was that locals had a good plan in place.

"I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who got up to his dog, opened the door and saw this wall of orange coming towards them and so he shot down and turned on the village siren, which is what it's for, and that alerted a lot of people and they all went door-to-door knocking and making sure that everyone got out safely," he said.

"It is absolutely a minor miracle that no one was hurt.

"Another 15-20 minutes it would have been a very different story."

Also on Breakfast, Te Kei Region Manager for Fire and Emergency New Zealand Mike Grant hailed locals "champions" and said their vigilance saved lives.

"The plan activated, the people went to where the assembly areas, the evacuation points that were part of the plan, and consequently everybody was evacuated and there's no lives lost," he said.