Grass burn off out of control outside Queenstown, six helicopters on standby

Out of control burn off rages on Wedge Ridge, with six fire crews on standby for the morning.

A large grass burn off on a station outside Queenstown is out of control this evening, with emergency helicopters dropping water bombs to contain it.

Shortly after 6pm, NZ Fire and Emergency were called about a controlled burn that had gotten out of control on Moke Lake Rd, Otago, about 6km west of Queenstown.

FENZ South Island communications shift manager Lyn Crosson said three fire brigades attended the blaze on Wedge Ridge.

"At this stage they have been stood down because you don't firefight terribly well in vegetation at night," Crosson said around 11pm.

"The rural fire officer is still in attendance and will be all night monitoring it."

Last reports were the grass fire had a 1.5km front on a ridge.

There have been no reports of injuries.

"It's tracking down, but slowly. It's no threat to any structures and it's doing what we expected," Crosson said.

Fire crews from three departments attended the blaze about six kilometres west of Queenstown

"I won't say it's under control but it's being monitored and isn't a danger to anybody at the moment.

"Because it's not threatening any properties, monitoring is the safest way to go at this point. In the morning they'll get the helicopters up and hit it."

The initial emergency call was from the station owner.

At around 6.30am tomorrow rural fire crews will resume efforts to contain the blaze, with six helicopters on stand by.