Five helicopters with monsoon buckets and about 30 firefighters on the ground have brought a large Southland scrub fire threatening a nearby forestry block under control.
Crews were called to the blaze threatening a commercial forestry block just west of Dipton just before 2pm today.
Principal rural fire officer Elton Smith said the 40ha fire was burning in logging slash within the Cairn Peak Forest near Dipton Flat Rd.
Mr Smith said early this evening the fire had been driven by strong winds in the area, but the weather had started to turn.
"The wind is starting to die off and we're expecting to have a level of containment within the next hour or so.''
There were concerns the blaze could have spread to a nearby forestry block, but Mr Smith said it was largely under control.
"We're pretty well on top of it now, but we will have crews out here for the next few days mopping up and just consolidating the containment."
Firefighters from Dipton, Lumsden, Hedgehope and Drummond battled the blaze and a command unit was at the scene.
