"For us (fire crews) to have continued to remain out there every day fighting hotspots would have been horrendous, but we left a fire trailer and the farmer and his neighbours are working on controlling any hotspots.
"I can tell you I was relieved when the wind died down because there hasn't been much rain out there."
The fire had been fanned by extreme winds and jumped the road, burning through two forestry blocks.
"Our fire crews were flat out for two days and the cost of fighting the fire is between $30,000 and $40,000 alone," Mr Driver said.
"It was a pretty horrific fireground for our volunteer firefighters who had a hell of a job. It was an extremely gnarly fire and the terrain as hilly as hell.
"Access was difficult and we needed a bulldozer to cut a few tracks for the fire crews. But all our crews did great, I'm thrilled.
"The fire began from a slash and burn six weeks previously.
"The stumps were smouldering away underground and then the galeforce winds whipped up the embers and it was all on.
"As you can imagine, the farmer is devastated."
Two helicopters from Tararua Helicopters helped battle the blaze and also stopped the fire threatening a house on the property.
Rural fire crews from Weber, Akitio and Herbertville fought the fire, along with firefighters from the Pongaroa Volunteer Fire Brigade and members of the Tararua rural fire team.
A water tanker was called in from Dannevirke and volunteers from the brigade also helped on the fire ground.
Mr Driver said there were lessons to be learned from the fire. "The best time for a slash and burn is in the autumn," he said. "This is the second time we've had a fire like this in the area.
"Stumps and things just burn away underground, then it dries out and we get strong winds, then bang, it's all on.
"This was a complex and difficult fire which was well managed by incident control. No two fires are the same and I'm thrilled with the way our crews handled things."
