Smoke from the fire. Photo: Karen Thoresen & Eric Wright
The last few residents have reportedly been evacuated from Waipoua Settlement in Northland as the remote, forested area is threatened by a massive fire, with warnings the blaze could last for a week.
Volunteers of the Te Kopuru Fire Brigade reportedly brought the last two residents out of the settlement to the safety of the Waipoua River mouth on the west coast.
Access to the Waipoua Settlement is not possible from State Highway 12 due to the fire.
The fire has swelled to more than 70 hectares with about a five kilometre perimeter, with 10 appliances and seven helicopters fighting the blaze that started this afternoon.
Assistant fire commander for Northland Graeme Quensell said the fire could last up to a week.
"We are looking at a long duration event, we're probably looking at about seven days before we can say we've got it completely contained and extinguished," Quensell said.
"We are getting quite a few fires due to this weather pattern; it's definitely one of the biggest."
Ten firefighters will remain overnight to observe the fire, which is expected to die down through the night before grow again at dawn as the day warms up.
He said 20 properties have been evacuated, but none of those houses had suffered any damage, nor had anyone been injured at this stage.
"We got the helicopters on site very quickly and those seven helicopters have been dropping monsoon buckets onto the actual houses and then after that we were able to work on the flanks of the fire.
"We've had a really good day, all the firefighters up on the fireground have been giving 100 percent in these conditions," he said.
An additional three helicopters were set to be deployed tomorrow, but that plan has been cancelled tonight.
Instead, efforts will be put towards heavy machinery create fire breaks in an attempt to slow the blaze down while 40 firefighters will arrive tomorrow.
Quensell said it was one of the largest fires he had seen in the region.
The fire is close to the former Waipoua Forest headquarters and about 6 kilometres from the kauri tree Tane Mahuta.
It is roughly 6km south of Tāne Mahuta, the world's largest surviving kauri tree.
Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said he was in contact with Civil Defence about the fire.
"At this stage our Civil Defence controller is monitoring the situation, but it's unlikely to require a Civil Defence response," Jepson said.
The mayor said to his knowledge no one had been harmed.
"Fire and Emergency are working closely with Te Roroa, the iwi that owns that area and they have evacuation plans in place."
Te Roroa iwi leader Snow Tane said the evacuation of the Waipoua forest settlement was still ongoing.
"The evacuation is motion at the moment, we've evacuated most of the whanau from the settlement but there are some down there still currently.
"We're working on trying to get them out but at this stage everyone is safe, even the ones at remain in situ.
"It's going to be an interesting night because if the wind changes, then things could change, and send the fire maybe towards the houses."
He said at this stage there were not concerns the fire could threaten Tāne Mahuta.
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