Rural firefighters have been working round the clock in many parts of the parched eastern South Island – from Marlborough, through Canterbury, and into Central Otago.

The key hotspot regions are Canterbury and Otago, where conditions are rated “extremely drier than normalâ€, and scattered showers over the past week have brought little relief.

Fire and water restrictions are widespread – the banks are rolling out funding assistance packages – and meatworkers are on overtime slaughtering stock as farmers ease the pressure on what’s left of their pasture.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy isn’t ready to call it a “medium scale adverse event†– yet … but his Ministry’s watching the situation closely.

– Country TV