Six hectares of scrub burned in Wharekopae Road fire

Smoke, can be seen coming from a large area of scrub as a helicopter with a monsoon bucket fights the fire at a Wharekopae Road property on Saturday. Picture by Liam Clayton

Firefighters, backed up by two helicopters, spent more than six hours on Saturday tackling a large fire in scrub at a Wharekopae Road property and all day Sunday making sure it was out.

The alarm was raised shortly before 2pm on Saturday at a property about 10 kilometres up the road from the Waipaoa River roundabout.

A senior firefighter said the property owner had been burning material in a burn pit when it got away on him.

“The fire raced up a nearby steep, sloping hill covered in medium-to-tall scrub,” the senior firefighter said.

It had covered about two hectares by the time crews from Gisborne, Te Karaka, Patutahi and Rural Fire arrived.

By the time it had been brought under control and put out, it had covered six hectares of scrub.

“We brought in two helicopters with monsoon buckets to assist and the choppers worked through the afternoon and into the early evening until it became too dark for them to operate.

“We kept the ground teams on the job until around 8.30pm that night — by which stage the fire was contained.”

Ground crews returned to the scene early on Sunday morning.

“They were there all day Sunday dealing with the remaining hot spots and deep-seated smouldering layers underground.”

The district remains in an open fire season, so no permit was required for the pit fire.

“But this incident illustrates the care people have got to take with fires in the open — even like this one which was started in a fire pit, especially when there are strong winds about, as was the case on Saturday.”