Fire in South Wairarapa burns 45 hectares, crews on scene

Fire fighters and helicopters are battling a scrub fire near Cape Palliser lighthouse. Photo / File

Fire crews and helicopters are battling a fire in South Wairarapa that has burned through 45ha.

Three rural fire crews and two helicopters are responding to a scrub fire near Cape Palliser lighthouse that started at around 8pm on Monday evening.

A Fire and emergency spokesperson said the fire hadn't grown this morning and they expected it to be contained soon.

South Wairarapa mayor Alex Beijen said this morning they are confident it will be contained sometime this morning, and there were no homes at serious risk.

"There's possibly one or two buildings at that side of the lighthouse, but unless we got some incredibly strong winds in the wrong direction I feel they're likely to have this under control relatively quickly."

He said recent rainfall around the Wairarapa coast had perhaps made the area less vulnerable to fire.

"The coast has had quite a bit more rain than possibly the rest of South Wairarapa.

"It may be that with the ground conditions and the water within the foliage they felt that it wasn't likely to get out of control, plus at this time of year getting heavy dew."

He asked the public to report fires if they saw them, and stay away from the Cape Palliser area.

"Any fire needs to be reported immediately, and it would be a great help for the crews not to have any sightseers while there's a fire."

"Just keep away from the area if you don't need to be there."