A Rolleston resident is urging people in the area to be cautious following this evening’s tyre fire.

13 fire appliances were required to contain the blaze at a property on Weddons Road off State Highway One.

 It’s understood it started as a hedge fire, then spread to about 30 by 50 metres of tyres.

The Rolleston resident told Chris Lynch her property has been covered by ash including on her car, trampoline and even her dog brought some back inside her house.

“I was worried that given this is burning rubber that it would be toxic so I made contact with Fire and Emergency.”

She received a response from a Fire and Emergency spokeswoman who said “ash from the fire has travelled especially far.”  

“We’ve had reports of it in areas near Leeston and Dunsandel.”

The spokeswoman says “smoke and ash from the burning rubber is especially toxic, so any areas that have ash on them should be hosed down if possible.”

“The council is fully aware of the fire and will no doubt be looking to clean down any public surfaces that might need it.”

The spokeswoman says “unfortunately, you may need to do this several times over the next day or two as this fire may take a couple of days to fully extinguish.