Less than two kilometres away, a previously controlled section of the Mt Allan fire erupts in a mini mushroom cloud and flames shoot more than 60m into the air.
Back at the civil defence communications unit, Mr Still is quickly on his radio, and the six helicopters which had just returned at noon for well-earned respite in an elevated paddock near the control centre are sent back into the air again.
Stiffening northeasterly winds send smoke billowing over Dunedin and the Taieri Plain, but the latest outbreak has flared up on the western side of the forest, just several hundred metres below where the fire started.
Of further concern is a forestry block of mature pine trees further west of the flames, and the several homes by the Taieri River, which were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon.
Bulldozers and diggers work to clear a 30m-wide firebreak on the eastern side of the fire and, coupled with a fire retardant chemical spray from a fixed-wing aircraft, attempt to halt the march of the fire eastwards and towards the populated areas.
The steep terrain and the flames' ability to jump several hundred metres at a time mean it is no place for ground crew, but it is the right place for the 10 helicopters and their up to 1200-litre monsoon buckets.
Helicopter after helicopter, dwarfed by the blaze beneath them, scoops water from the nearby Taieri River in an effort to contain the spread of the flames and prevent flare-ups.
Mr Still, a veteran of the 2006 Australian bushfires, says it is the worst Dunedin fire he has seen and it just took the right conditions for it to happen.
"Today, we have those right conditions, or the wrong conditions, depending on how you look at it."
His words are echoed by logistics manager Craig Still, who has taken time off from his silviculture business to help battle the blaze, despite having had only a few hours' sleep.
"It is somewhat of a waiting game at the moment, but when you see flare-ups happening, it can get a bit dispiriting."
The real work for the more than 30 volunteer firefighters would be over the next two weeks, when hotspots would be dampened down and heat-laden stumps dug up.
Asked why he would volunteer for such back-breaking work, Craig Still replies he just "wants to do his bit".
Taking a break from his work as manager of the more than 1200ha Taieri Banks Station is Iain Roy.
He pointed out Wenita Forest logging machinery just above the latest flare-up - the fire's starting point.
Mr Roy called emergency services shortly after the fire broke out at 3.30pm on Tuesday, but "the forestry guys seemed to have it all under control".
But as the fire began to spread, he decided to move more than 1000 ewes and 120 cattle to another paddock in case the flames crossed the Taieri River.
Mr Roy said the area was "hot and dry" and any rainfall was soaked up within seconds by the ground.
Despite the forecast, he wasn't hopeful of any respite from the weather.
"She's not looking good."
