Northland is set to explode in Australia-like fire conditions, firefighters say.
Some brigades are facing their busiest summer and an eight-day blaze is still burning up resources.
Over the weekend Northland firefighters were called to 24 incidents, most of which were vegetation fires.
A crew was still at an eight-day-old fire at Taheke today. It has burned more than 80 hectares of scrub and at first forced the evacuation of three homes.
Northland's high fire risk was illustrated on Saturday when fire firefighters working on extinguishing the deep-seated fire at Taheke were called to a blaze in a pine forest at Matawaia, 20km southeast of Kaikohe, about 1.40pm.
At its height, six fire crews and three helicopters with monsoon buckets worked to bring the fire under control off Pipiwai Rd. It is unclear what sparked the fire in the pine trees.
Far North deputy principal rural fire officer Bob Lourie said a helicopter was then directed back to the Taheke scene after scrub reignited.
He said the Taheke fire was proving difficult to put out as there were deep layers of dry wood and the area was covered with scoria rocks which held heat for a long time.
Mr Lourie said it could take up to two weeks to make sure the fire was out.
An independent fire investigator had been to the scene to determine what had started the fire and whether anyone would be prosecuted.
Under the Forest and Rural Fire Act anyone found guilty of lighting a fire without a permit could face a maximum fine of $2000 or six months' jail.
Last week it is believed lightning sparked a fire in trees at Twin Bridges, south of Kaikohe.
The region's current parched landscape has been likened to Australia by Northland fire commander Trevor Andrews.
"The weather conditions in Northland are getting into Australia-like conditions and these fires show how precarious our position is," Mr Andrews said.
"Conditions are still as explosive as they have been, despite light rain."
That was clear when a rubbish fire started near a marae, 45km west of Kaikohe, yesterday quickly spread to a tree and surrounding grass about 11.45am.
Omapere chief fire officer Dene Preston said the fire was one of two the brigade extinguished at the weekend. January was shaping up to be one of the busiest on record.
Ruakaka volunteers were called to the racecourse about 8am after wisps of smoke were spotted rising from mounds.
Senior firefighter Jeff D'Ath said the brigade had been to 20 callouts in January, making it one of the busiest on record.
On Saturday about 9.15am Whangarei firefighters were called to a childcare centre in Cross St, where a shed storing play equipment was destroyed by fire. It is unclear what started it.
Concern North will burn like Australia
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