Two houses remain evacuated with one being threatened by a large vegetation fire that broke out east of Whangārei this afternoon.
Fire and Emergency said it was notified of a fire on Whangārei Heads Rd betwen Onerahi and Tamaterau shortly after midday.
“Ten trucks and five helicopters are currently on scene,” a spokesperson said.
Assistant Commander Denis Cooper said the fire covered approximately 20 hectares.
“It started at around 12.30pm in a narrow gully and it’s gone up both sides. One was farmland on the west and the east side has gone up into heavy fuels, such as scrub land, totara and gorse.”
The steep countryside and “very thick and very hot smoke” provided “challenging conditions” for crews, he added.
Eight to 10 houses were threatened at the height of the fire, however, just two remained evacuated as of 5.45pm.
“They will be back in their houses tonight,” Cooper said.
Incident Controller Graeme Quensell said crews would continue working at the scene until just before 9pm.
“We currently have five helicopters on site, four with buckets and one acting as observation and they will be operating until sundown.
“If at any point residents in the area are worried about their property, they should self-evacuate and call 111.”
Firefighting efforts were expected to last three to five days and a fire investigator would be on site tomorrow.
The Whangārei District Council said Whangārei Heads Rd had been reduced to a 30km/h speed limit near the Beach Rd intersection.
“Please drive with caution and be prepared for smoke. Give way to emergency vehicles.”
People were advised to avoid the area while firefighters and helicopters worked.
A “large amount of smoke” in the area also prompted a warning from Fire and Emergency NZ.
“If residents in the area are impacted by smoke, please keep windows and doors closed and stay inside. Call your GP or Healthline for health advice.”
Flights affected
Two domestic flights were affected by the blaze, a Whangārei Airport spokesperson confirmed in a statement.
The airport was about 6km west of the fire, directly across the Whangārei Harbour.
“A 5pm flight went into a holding pattern to assess the situation, and was ultimately diverted to Kerikeri, where passengers could then bus to Whangārei.
“An 8.25pm flight was cancelled due to ongoing helicopter and fire presence.”
Fire restrictions from tomorrow
Fire and Emergency NZ earlier announced on Thursday that Northland would move to a restricted fire season from Friday, January 10.
District manager Wipari Henwood said very little or no rain was predicted in the region for the next 10 days with strong southwest winds continuing.
“Grass is drying out and forecast spike days — where fire risk rises sharply — increase the difficulty of controlling fires quickly once they have started,” he said.
“As we have seen with recent fires, it takes a large number of our fire brigades, many of them volunteers, with supporting resources and aircraft to contain and control wildfires in Northland.”