Forest fire almost out

Firefighters attend a large fire on Pouto Peninsular which also threatened homes in the Kellys Bay area.

A helicopter flyover of a Northland forest fire using heat detecting equipment has shown the blaze is almost contained.

About 90 people were still involved in the Kellys Bay fire that ignited 10 days ago.

Read more here: Huge effort to contain fire as locals flee area
target="_blank">Residents ready to flee fire
Fire evacuees returning

A helicopter team flew the 205 hectare site early yesterday using the special camera and officials said the level of containment was 95 per cent.

The suspicious blaze started on Monday last week and had burned through pine forest and forced some Kellys Bay residents to leave their homes. No homes have been damaged but the Kellys Bay Rd is closed to traffic other than residents while fire crews are in the area.

Department of Conservation partnership manager for Northland Sue Reed said some hot spots had been identified but the fire was almost under control.

The incident has been scaled back and of the 89 people still at the scene 56 are ground crew and mainly from Northland.

Weather forecasters predict isolated showers for the next few days which would help.

However, Ms Reed said even if there were showers it would take another week to ensure the fire was completely out. "Once it's contained there will be the moping up stage to make sure it's absolutely out."