Strong winds, dry conditions and temperatures in the mid-20s combined to create a testing day across Otago.
Fire Service Southern communications shift manager Brent Dunn said firefighters were called to more than a dozen jobs resulting from windy and dry conditions in the region.
''It was one of the busier days this year,'' he said.
In Ettrick, about 40 firefighters battled two fires covering 5ha. A lull in the high winds plaguing the site was greeted with relief by fire authorities late yesterday afternoon.
It took firefighters six hours to contain the fire, which began at midnight on Saturday, and came within about 5m of an Ettrick home on a rural property. Farmland and scrub along the Clutha River bank was burnt and a fire crew remained at the site until dark last night checking for hot spots.
''It was certainly challenging conditions for firefighters battling with high winds and fighting the fire through the night,'' Otago Rural Fire Authority principal rural fire officer Stephanie Rotarangi said.
The occupant of the Ettrick home alerted the emergency services about the blaze and had been evacuated from the house early in the morning.
''Saving that house was a good save by the New Zealand Fire Service and the Otago Rural Fire Authority,'' Dr Rotarangi said. Two separate fires had started on the same property, one covering 4ha and the other covering one hectare.
Four volunteer brigades - Millers Flat, Roxburgh, Alexandra and Omakau - attended along with a Department of Conservation fire crew and rural fire authority crews.
Pete Scarlet, who took over as acting principal rural fire officer after Dr Rotarangi stood down later yesterday, said it was relief when the winds finally dropped in the late afternoon.
Fire investigators were at the scene yesterday and would determine the cause of the blaze.
Diggers were used to help extinguish the fire and they were also used in the ''mop-up'' operation yesterday.
Near Queenstown, high winds felled a towering poplar and blocked a road. The 20-metre tree was brought down on to Speargrass Flat Rd, near Arrowtown, about 11am yesterday.
Council contractors worked to clear the road throughout the afternoon.
Flight NZ5403 was diverted from Queenstown Airport to Christchurch due to the wind, with the corresponding departure flight NZ504 cancelled as a result.
A power line in Hobart St came down.
Delta marketing and communications manager Gary Johnson said eight power outages in Alexandra, Queenstown and Wanaka yesterday were due to ''wind-related damage''.
Most customers had their electricity restored by 9pm last night but the electricity of Crown Tce customers had not been restored, he said.
Mr Johnson said the number of customers affected by the outages was unknown. However, the longest outage - lasting an hour from 6am yesterday - affected about 300 customers in Maungawera, he said.
In Arrowtown, fireworks started a scrub fire about 1pm.
Fireworks went on sale yesterday. Mr Dunn said lighting fireworks on a day when strong winds coupled with a temperature of 23degC was ''probably not the best thing to do''.
The Met Service website recorded northerly gusts of 90kmh in Queenstown with an average wind speed of 28kmh.
Firefighters in Palmerston were also kept busy attending three vegetation fires, one of which was suspiciously lit, in the space of four hours.
In Outram, a high of 25degC and average wind speed of 48kmh made conditions difficult for firefighters tackling a large scrub fire in the Woodside area.
In Oamaru, the mercury peaked at 25degC. Average wind speeds of 57kmh were recorded in Wanaka. Then rain arrived for most of Otago late afternoon.
