A shelterbelt fire in Oropi was so large Greerton firefighters could see it before they had even left their station 10km away.
Flames in the Oropi Rd fire reached 15m-20m high and the blaze grew to 30m long as embers blew across the road and started another fire in a
paddock of hay about 1pm yesterday.
Firefighters from the Tauranga and Greerton stations used more than 8000 litres of water to fight the blaze over two hours.
Greerton station officer Steve Wright said both fires were going when firefighters arrived but they had focused on the shelterbelt to try to save a nearby shed. He had also called for back-up from the Tauranga brigade, volunteers and a rural tanker. The macrocarpa shed ended up scorched on a side wall.
"There was a shed right behind it, which we went to straight away, to save that from being destroyed," Mr Wright said. Winds had blown embers across the road, starting a fire in a large hay pile.
