One appliance from the Oamaru Volunteer Fire brigade was alerted to the scene about 5.30pm, after plumes of smoke were seen rising from a grass section at a residential property in Stoke St, across the road from Observatory Retirement Village.
The fire was well-involved by the time firefighters arrived, but took only a few minutes to extinguish.
Police were called to assist at the scene after occupants at the property abused bystanders and firefighters as they arrived, before throwing fireworks on the fire.
Sergeant Blair Corlet, of Oamaru, said the property’s occupants "did not agree with the firefighters being on the property" and police were called as a precaution.
The occupants were spoken to by police.
A woman who saw the blaze from her home, who did not want to be named, said she saw smoke rising above the trees bordering the property before the fire started to spread.
"I thought ‘Wow, this is getting pretty big’," she said.
