Controlling hotspots 'hard going'

Firefighters continued to dampen down hotspots at the scene of a major bush fire at Rowallan, near Tuatapere, yesterday.

The Rural Fire Authority had 32 people working on the ground.

Southern Rural Fire Authority incident controller Blair Townshend said the hotspots were deepseated and it had been "hard going".

"We are still trying to make the perimeters safe and it's slow work."

Ground crews hope to have a 50m buffer zone around the perimeter and have no hotspots by the weekend.

"Then we will be able to stand down firefighting crews, however there will be at least one crew watching over the fire site during the weekend," Mr Townshend said.

Southern rural firefighters have been assisted by three water tankers, three ground crews each made up of four men, and two crew felling trees to prevent any flare-ups.

"We will do an aerial observation today and then we can plan our day and send ground crews to the most needed places that require our attention," he said.

More than 198ha of regenerated forest has been destroyed in the fire, which began on Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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