"Fires still seem to be happening, from cigarette butts being thrown out [car] windows, people mowing the lawn and a spark comes off a stone, things are so dry that's enough to set things off."
Fire crews from across Hawke's Bay battled numerous vegetation fires this weekend - some as small as 10m by 5m, others consuming entire paddocks.
On Saturday alone, fires broke out in Havelock North, Meeanee, Ongaonga, Te Hauke, and the Nagaruroro River reserve, while Sunday brought some respite for crews with fires in Napier.
One fire in Central Hawke's Bay could have had dire consequences if wind conditions had been different.
Emergency services were called to the vegetation fire in Te Hauke on Saturday afternoon, which had burnt through hundreds of metres of enclosed yards and paddocks.
Nearby was a marae, and graveyard, while the fire in another paddock was extinguished metres from a Seventh Day Adventist Church and a house.
As the fire raged, homeowner Tenahu Hawea had been inside the house with her family.
She said the fire had moved quickly, "like petrol was being put on it".
"When I went out, it was just burning everywhere," she said.
If the wind had been going another way, Mrs Hawea said the outcome could have been much worse.
Her son, Mr Hawea, had been working in the yard when the fire started. A small fire at first, he said he went in his truck to get water from the nearby tanker to put it out.
"I was filling up the tanks and I saw smoke, and by the time I backed up [in my truck] it was away. It was just kind of like it came out of nothing."
It quickly spread in the yard around him, with flames soon licking the underside of his truck.
"It's like a spring of fire, once it got going it was just away".
He estimated it took around half an hour for the fire to spread. Located in another paddock, cars and equipment escaped unharmed thanks to the actions of the fire crews.
Hastings senior fire fighter Joel Fraser said crews spent about an hour and a half containing the fire, and dampening the area down.
"It was moving quite quickly through very dry grass," he said, adding crews were under pressure to contain the fire due to its proximity to surrounding buildings.
"It was very fortunate the wine was blowing the fire away from the houses."
Although the wind picked up later in the afternoon, Mr Hawea said when the fire started it had been hot, but still.
Otherwise the fire could have "decimated" the area, he said.
"It was quite lucky."
Mr Fraser said the cause of the fire was unknown at this stage.