Firefighters battling a huge forest fire in Marlborough have managed to "get this beast by the tail" and contain the blaze today.
Working from the ground and the air, crews faced strong winds in the Waihopai Valley, but temperatures had dropped and humidity was reasonably high, Marlborough principal rural fireofficer Richard McNamara said.
A light rain began falling this evening.
The fire, which started at 11.30am on Thursday, is estimated to have travelled through 1200ha of pine forest and farm grassland, moving from the Wairau Valley towards the adjacent Waihopai Valley.
It's the biggest fire Marlborough has faced since the Boxing Day blazes burned through about 7000ha in 2000. A "massive effort" from aerial and ground crews had succeeded in keeping the blaze behind containment lines, Mr McNamara said.
Night crews would patrol the area all night to ensure the fire did not break away, he said.
"The crews who have been out there since 6am have done a fantastic job. They're starting to come in now and they're pretty exhausted but they've ensured we've kept on top of this one.
"It's still pretty windy out there, but with luck we've seen the worst of the weather today and conditions will allow us to begin beating this back."