Residents who were evacuated from Waipoua will begin to return home from tonight after a large vegetation fire was contained, Fire and Emergency NZ says.
It also confirmed that New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta, was safe.
The fire remains 91 hectares in size with a 5.8km perimeter.
Incident Commander Phil Larcombe said an “extensive firefighting effort” over the last five days had contained the blaze.
“Today’s objective is to keep it that way.”
Ninety-six firefighters and heavy machinery were targeting hot spots, which overnight thermal imaging showed had dropped in temperature.
Larcombe said the goal was to go “big and hard” over the weekend as a new weather pattern was forecast for Tuesday.
MetService said the forecast for Tuesday was late showers with northwesterlies turning southwesterlies during the day.
“We need to be ready for any impacts on the Waipoua River fire, and for any incidents, the weather might bring across Te Tai Tokerau Northland,” said Larcombe.
He also said the team would work closely with iwi to rehome people safely as operations continue over the coming days.
“We’d like to thank the local community and Te Roroa for their manaakitanga while we have been here. Thanks too for all the messages of support for our crews, they are greatly appreciated.”
Parts of Northland are in a prohibited fire zone until further notice, meaning no outdoor fires can be lit and all fire permits have been revoked.