Fire crews battling a massive scrub fire south of Invercargill are preparing for strong winds to continue

The blaze has ripped through about a thousand hectares of manuka scrub on Department of Conservation land, at Awarua Bay near Tiwai.

Crews established a fire break at the head of the peninsula to slow the fire and stop it from spreading yesterday - as winds reached 40 kilometres per hour.

Incident Controller Mark Mawhinney says they're hoping to see gusts ease into the afternoon, to allow firefighters to continue to put out the fire.

He's reminding people it's still a prohibited fire season in Southland.