Two separate incidents of private drones being sighted caused helicopters fighting the Port Hills fires to be grounded last night as well as this morning.
Incident controller Steve Kennedy said that a drone was spotted flying around Westmorland in the Cashmere Rd area this morning.
"I urge any people out there with drones, to please just keep away from the area that we're working in."
Five helicopters had to be grounded for 45 minutes to an hour from 9.50am.
"They go through all their take off procedure, they've gotta come down and go through their landing and shutdown procedure, so it just all adds up, especially when we're using them as one of the main resources to get this fire out."
Kennedy said that overnight FENZ drone flights across the fireground identified around 60 hotspots, 35 of which were on the perimeter.
"We're putting all our resources into those hotspots, and especially in some areas that could be problematic if we get a weather change tomorrow."
Northwesterly gusts of up to 80km/hr are forecast for Christchurch on Monday.
Police inspector Ash Tabb said that they were "actively investigating" the drone incidents in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Authority.
"Those pilots are working incredibly hard in a very technical role and that's the last thing we need.
"If you do see a drone in the air, please ring 111 immediately."
A small number of people had also been trying to access walking tracks in the area, which put both themselves and emergency services at risk, he said.
He reiterated calls for the public to stay away for everyone's safety.
When asked how the public could tell the difference between a private drone and a FENZ drone, Kennedy said that if a drone was up during the day, it was not one of theirs.
"We're only flying our drones at night time... from about 9pm to the early hours of the morning."
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