Otago firefighters have now fully contained two vegetation fires that broke out in the Waitaki District, while evacuated residents are still yet to return to their homes.
Fire and Emergency incident controller Bobby Lamont said crews had been working on three separate fires since earlier today, burning in windy conditions.
The 78-hectare fire in Nenthorn, 30km from Middlemarch, started around midnight and destroyed some farm buildings.
Lamont said crews were focused on protecting buildings at two of the fires and there were limited options for other firefighting until daylight.
Incident controller Jason Sarich said most of this fire was in grass which spread rapidly due to the gale force winds.
"The wind dropped around 7am this morning and crews were able to get on top of it pretty quickly," he said.
Sarich said the fire was now "completely contained" and Department of Conservation (DOC) fire crews were now working with helicopters to mop up hot spots.
Incident Controller Bobby Lamont said flames came close to a farm house, but fire crews were able to save it.
"One crew will monitor the fire overnight and there'll be fresh crews arriving in the morning," he said.
"All Fire and Emergency crews have now left the second fire at Earthquakes near Duntroon on DOC land," he said.
DOC crews would continue to patrol and monitor the fire ground for the next few days.
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