House fire spreads into block of trees near Tangoio, Hawke's Bay

Firefighters and a helicopter battled a house fire that spread to woodland near Tangoio. Photo / Warren Buckland

Firefighters spent more than four hours battling a house fire that spread to more than 100 square metres of woodland near Tangoio.

Emergency services were called to the property on Waikoau Rd, Tangoio, about 10.41am on Tuesday.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said a house fire spread to nearby woodlands, but was quickly contained.

A spokeswoman said the blaze spanned 100 square metres of woodlands at its biggest.

"The fire was extinguished and firefighters left the scene at 2.45pm," she said.

Water tankers from Napier, Bay View and Heretaunga, as well as further rural appliances from across Hawke's Bay, were sent to the scene.

One helicopter was also dispatched.

Nobody was inside the house when fire crews arrived at the scene, according to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Hawke's Bay's largest vegetation fire of 2020 was a 400ha fire in Tangoio Forest that started on January 6.

It took 11 days and 300 people, including numerous helicopters and planes, to put out the blaze.

Wild fire investigating officer Donald Scott classed the 2020 fire as accidental and said the most likely cause of the fire was carbon particles expelled from a defective exhaust system on a Komatsu D65EX-12 bulldozer owned by Hawke's Bay logging company K & S Beard Logging.

There is no known cause as yet of the fire on Tuesday.