Six helicopters and four ground crews are fighting a vegetation fire at Awarua south of Invercargill, which began yesterday evening.

Incident Controller Mark Mawhinney says the fire is burning mainly on Department of Conservation land, in about 1000 hectares of manuka scrub and peat soils.

The fire was reported about 5.30pm on Saturday and is not yet contained.

Fire and Emergency will be carrying out an investigation into the cause of the fire. In the meantime, the public is asked to stay away from Awarua Bay.