Six helicopter fire crews battling grass fire near Queenstown

Fire crews from Queenstown, Glenorchy and Arrowtown were fighting the vegetation fire last night.

Six helicopter fire crews are fighting a grass burnoff that got out of control last night near Queenstown.

Emergency helicopters were last night dropping water bombs to contain the fire, which covered an area of about 1.5km by 6km.

The controlled burn had been started at a station on Moke Lake Rd, Otago, close to Lake Wakatipu. The station owner had called emergency services.

The fire was burning on Wedge Peak with crews from Queenstown, Arrowtown and Glenorchy attending but all were stood down overnight, a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said.

It had spread overnight but no more than expected, he said. No houses were in danger from the burn.

The fire crews had returned to fight the blaze at first light.