A member of the public was treated for smoke inhalation after helping fight a grass fire which burnt to within 80m of a Lauder house yesterday afternoon.
''This fire was heading towards a house and the locals managed to knock it on the head before the brigade got there, so it didn't get into the trees nearby,'' Omakau chief fire officer Sam Leask said.
''It was a good job they did, with the way the wind was blowing.''
Omakau, Blackstone and Alexandra volunteer fire crews, along with a rural water tankers, attended the fire on the Becks-Lauder road and spent more than two hours at the blaze. Central Otago principal rural fire officer Owen Burgess said the fire was started by a discarded cigarette.
• Fire caused major damage to a 22 tonne Caterpillar digger yesterday. It is owned by a contractor who is converting a farm to dairying on the Ngapara-Georgetown Rd.
The Weston and Duntroon fire brigades were called to the fire on Nottingham Farm at 2.11pm.
It took about two hours to put out.
