Fire crews were called at 12.51pm to the fire along the north side of the Waitaki River, in the Station Peak area.
''There was an awful lot of smoke and a lot of burning in the river bed and evidently the fire threatened a house,'' Kurow Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer John Sturgeon said.
Mr Sturgeon said four fire crews were at the scene - two units from Kurow and two from Duntroon - who were also assisted by the property owner.
''A main machine and a tanker from each,'' he said.
Winds were very high at the time, but by 4pm, the fire was under control.
Kurow volunteer firefighters remained at the scene into the night to continue dampening down and cleaning up.
''Trying to deal with something like that in high winds is pretty difficult,'' Mr Sturgeon said.
Dampening was expected to take some time, to ensure the high winds did not reignite the blaze, Mr Sturgeon said.
The Duntroon brigade was recalled to a fire in Morven Rd.
Mr Sturgeon said it was too early to say how the fire started and it was also hard to define how far it spread, but it was ''quite a large area''.
He issued a general safety message to the public to stay safe when weather conditions changed.
''They should be taking precautions, especially when they get 48 hours notice of impending winds and weather conditions and take the necessary precautions,'' he said.
''That goes for households, too, especially on farms - if they're burning rubbish and have burn pits, make sure they're suitably protected before the high winds and weather condition changes.''
