The blaze, which started on Thursday morning, has covered almost 1000ha northwest of Springfield.
The fire perimeter is on terrain too steep and rugged for firefighters to contain it.
As it is too dangerous to establish containment lines around the blaze, fire crews have focused on bringing it under control instead.
Rich Langley from Environment Canterbury told RNZ previous wilding pine spraying efforts had decreased the fuel for the fire.
He said although dead-standing trees burn easily, fire spreads more quickly and ferociously in a closed-canopy forest.
"There's no doubt, I think, without the control work there would be an incredible amount more fuel there for this fire," he said.
Langley wanted landowners to help control the wilding pines.
"We really encourage the community ... to recognise the threat that these trees pose in this situation, and we continue to work with the community to try and encourage them to consider that when they're managing their trees", he said.
Some locals saw it as a positive that they would not have to pay to get rid of the pines that were burnt, but a wildfire was not cause to celebrate, Langley said.
The fire would affect the wilding pine control programme's operations and an assessment would have to be made later, he said.
