One of six helicopters working to contain the fire burning in steep terrain on Mt Creighton. Photo: Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Firefighters say it's likely they'll still be battling a bush fire on the slopes of Mt Creighton, near Queenstown, into tomorrow.
In a statement, Fire and Emergency incident controller Mark Mawhinney said a reconnaissance flight this morning showed the fire had burnt an estimated 200 hectares of manuka and tussock grassland.
The cause of the blaze, which broke yesterday, is still unknown.
Mawhinney said they are expecting wind gusts of up to 80km/h this afternoon.
"That's a real pinch point for us. Typically wind increase, we see temperature increase.
"We also see what we call relative humidity, which is the level of water in the air, decline. All of these things influence fire behaviour.
"So our biggest concern really is to get in there as soon as we can, as quickly as we can, knock all that flame down so it gives us a little more confidence that overnight when we can't do anything, the fire behaves itself."
Most of the area affected was on Mt Crichton Station and Fire and Emergency was working closely with a farmer to ensure stock was safe, he said.
The flames had also reached some conservation land.
Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h are expected today, so crews are concentrating on containing the fire and creating a blacked out perimeter to reduce the risk later in the day, Mawhinney said.
