Mohaka pine plantation fire: Pan Pac crews help contain blaze, still dousing hot spots

Smoke from the fire in the Waipapa Forest Block in Pan Pac's Mohaka Forest on Monday.

A five-hectare fire at a pine tree plantation in northern Hawke’s Bay is “mostly” extinguished, with the owners of the forest saying their firefighting team’s quick reaction prevented it from spreading further.

A stretch of State Highway 2 at Mohaka, south of Wairoa, was closed for a time on Monday afternoon as fire crews responded to battle the blaze.

It’s unknown how the fire started.

Just after 3pm on Monday, the fire was about 1km wide and 200m long.

Tim Sandall, the general manager of forests at Pan Pac Forest Products, said the fire occurred in the Waipapa Forest block in Pan Pac’s Mohaka Forest, but it was detected early by one of the company’s contractors.

“As we manage production forests, Pan Pac always has workers operating in our forests, enabling us to identify and respond to risk very quickly.”

Sandall said about 5.2ha of forest, planted in 2020 and pruned earlier this year, were lost in the fire.

He said most of the fire was extinguished by around 11am on Tuesday and there were currently four Pan Pac managers, 12 Pan Pac silviculture contractors and four Fire and Emergency New Zealand firefighters from Hastings working on the ground to put out hot spots.

“There are also two helicopters that are extracting water from our own water resources within the vicinity as well as from one of our neighbours,” Sandall said.

“Pan Pac has large dams within our forests that we regularly maintain for such events.

“We anticipate we will be continuing to put out hot spots and securing the area for the rest of the week, and we will be closely monitoring the situation.”

The cause of the fire is still unclear, but Sandall said Fire and Emergency was investigating the ignition.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.