Northland's biggest fire in many years could be out by the end of this week, fire bosses say.
Sunday's heavy rain and continuing high humidity have been a godsend for firefighters reeling from a horror two weeks in which they have fought a massive forest fire at Horeke, in South Hokianga, and lost two of their own in a helicopter crash at a fire on the Karikari Peninsula.
Northland Regional Council figures show 85mm of rain fell at Oruru in Doubtless Bay, the closest weather station to the Karikari Peninsula; and 33.5mm at Omapere, South Hokianga at the weekend.
The Horeke blaze started on November 21 when a worker on a government employment scheme lit a burn-off while clearing vegetation for a cycle trail. The fire raced through dry scrub into White Cliffs pine forest, destroying 345ha of the 1400ha plantation and threatening homes.
One of the key firefighters in the initial days of the Horeke fire was helicopter pilot John "Prickles" de Ridder, who lost his life at Karikari last week.
Yesterday was the first time in two weeks there were no firefighters on the ground at Horeke. One forestry fire crew worked over the weekend with occasional patrols to check for flare-ups.
Northland principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said a fly-over with a thermal imaging camera was planned at dawn tomorrow.
Any remaining hotspots would be identified and a marker dropped from the chopper, so ground crews could be sent in to turn over and douse the earth. Mr Taylor hoped he would be able to declare the fire extinguished this week.
At the Karikari Peninsula fire ground a team of four were still working to extinguish the hotspots.
Incident controller Bryan Jensen said a helicopter would be used at daybreak today to fly a thermal camera over the scene to see if there was any heat left. Mr Jensen hoped the team would be able to finish on Friday.
Meanwhile, last Friday's scrub fire at Opononi - fought by five appliances and a helicopter diverted from Karikari - flared up twice more over the weekend.