There was a large round of applause for all involved in fighting the fire at Burnside yesterday, prompting a rare show of emotion from Otago principal rural fire officer Graeme Still.
''The gratitude of the public . . . I've got a bit of dust in my eye and I'm a bit tired. It was a big job," he said.
''You sort of start to reflect on it now, how close it was. It was very, very touch and go.
''I'm pretty stoked it wasn't worse.''
He said now that it was raining steadily, there was no likelihood of it reigniting in the short term.
He said fire crews would be busy at the site over then next two days to dampen down deep-seated hot spots.
Digging machinery and fire crews are on site at present, working among smouldering material and steam.
Evacuated residents were warned some of their hedges may have been destroyed by the fire and there may be some scorched paint on their houses.
If so, residents were asked to contact their insurance companies.
''When you do go home, there will be the smell of smoke inside. Don't be too concerned about that, but if you're not happy or not sure, please dial 111 to get someone out there to have a look, to be doubly sure.
''Don't be shy about doing that.''
Fenz incident controller Phil Marsh said there may also be missing pets in the area.
If residents had any animal welfare issues, he recommended they contact the SPCA or the Dunedin City Council to see if they have been picked up or handed in.
''If they get a fright, it does happen that animals will take off for a bit, but they will come back.''
Mr Marsh praised the help and support of the community for co-operating with authorities in what was a hair-raising and stressful event.
''With this really extreme fire behaviour, it's really one out of the bag for what we've had to deal with.
''This fire had everything. It was vegetation, it was structural, there were gas cylinders, there were all sorts of unknown drums of things burning, so we had to treat it as worst case scenario right throughout.''
Three industrial buildings and a shed were destroyed in the fire, but there were many that were saved.
He said fire investigators would arrive today to determine the cause of the fire.
Civil Defence Emergency Management Otago director Chris Hawker said he believed the response to the fire went well.
However, CDEM, police and Fenz would take a look at the response and look for improvement.
That would include examining how the agencies worked together.
Mr Hawker said CDEM's attention would now fall on the heavy rain which was expected to reach its peak this afternoon.
''We'll find out between 2pm and 4pm in the Dunedin area, because that's when the heaviest rain is likely to happen.
''We were concerned about the two [weather] systems and whether they were going to collide and stall.
''If there had been long rain or high intensities and stuck, it would have caused us some issues.
''At the moment, we are hopeful that it's not going to be as bad as it potentially could have been.''
He said if water started ponding and continued to rise, residents should call the city council. If it was worse, call emergency services.
