Rain has come to the rescue of firefighters battling the latest destructive wildfire in Canterbury.
Fire crews have been at the site overnight of the yesterday's fast moving fire that tore through grass and shelterbelts near Hororata, 56km west of Christchurch.
More than 20 fire crews and five helicopters fought the blaze.
Homes were evacuated as firefighters scrambled to prevent the blaze from spreading on when it broke out on farmland after lunch.
Fire and Emergency southern shift communications manager Andrew Norris said crews had contained the blaze and would be monitoring the site today in case it reignited.
However, the weather had dealt firefighters a kind hand overnight.
"Everything is currently contained and we have no firefighters at any jobs other than actively patrolling them overnight," said Norris.
"We've been lucky enough to have steady rain since late last night which will have a massive impact on the fires we've had."
Today crews would be out checking on all the recent fire-damaged sites including pre-Christmas fires in Rolleston and Mcleans Island.
"We will have staff monitoring and checking those fires over the next couple of days."
He said while the fires were out there was a risk of hot spots flaring up and sparking a fresh blaze.
"That's going to become an issue in the coming week. Any fire that's a deep seated fire and burned down into the ground whether it be through fence posts or tree roots can reignite and flare up again so we'll have people monitoring and checking those sites on a regular basis in the coming week," he said.
Two homes were destroyed and property damaged in Saturday's Rolleston scrub fire that fanned out of control by strong winds and tinder dry conditions.
