A large scrub fire that burned about 100m by 300m of old gorse in Ohauiti this weekend was caused by a farmer undertaking a controlled burn off on his property, say firefighters.

A large area of old gorse was burned during a 'controlled burn' in Ohauiti on Saturday. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Greerton station officer Neil Patrick says the fire on the Ohauiti Road farm was spotted by a concerned bystander who reported the blaze to firefighters just after 3pm on Saturday.

'A passing motorist had seen the smoke and the flames and was a bit concerned. But it was actually all in hand by the farmer.”

Neil says once firefighters arrived the gorse was let to burn off and no attempts to dampen the blaze were made.

'He [the farmer] was quite within his rights doing what he was doing and we had the rural fire officer there as well.”

According to Neil, firefighters deal with similar callouts 'all of the time”.

'We don't mind people ringing us for that at least we can investigate and see all is kosher.”

The fire was initially reported to be 100m by 300m with fears of a 15-knot wind would cause the fire to spread.

But, Neil says there wasn't anywhere for the fire to spread to.

'It was just a bit of a hill face of old gorse and once the gorse had burned there was nowhere else for it to go anyway.”

Meanwhile, firefighters from Waihi Fire Brigade attended to an accident involving an overturned vehicle and trailer on Whiritoa Hill.

Waihi Volunteer Chief Fire Officer Moe Stevens says Waihi Whangamata Road was blocked for a few minutes after a land rover and trailer tipped over on the about 6pm on Saturday.

Two appliances from Waihi and Whiritoa attended to assist with traffic control and to clear the road.