Homeowner tried to keep fire on hill in Napier at bay with a bucket

Homes were threatened by the fire. Photo / Supplied

A homeowner facing down a fire coming up the hill towards him in the Napier suburb of Bay View tried to keep it at bay with a bucket.

Twelve fire crews were needed to helped quell the fire on the northeast side of a hill near Kaiangaroa Pl about 10.30am on Tuesday.

The scrub fire was tricky to control. Photo / Paul Taylor

One resident, Art Verschoor , said the first thing he noticed was the power going out, before seeing the flames.

"It's a frightening thing, the noise, the flames, it goes very fast."

The fire was about 100m away from his house.

"It slowly moved towards us, but when I saw the fire trucks I knew they would contain it."

He believed it had been caused by sparks from the power lines. Power remained out at 4pm.

Another nearby resident, Michael Hodgkinson, said he heard the fire alarms and watched smoke and flames whipping around houses above.

"The closest house would have been maybe 50m away.

"Over the period of about half an hour it just started taking off in all directions with the wind circling."

Firefighters dampen down the hill. Photo / Paul Taylor

"It looked like it would start to die out, it was mainly smoke, and then a new flame would pop up."

He said at one point the flames got as close as five metres from one property, and he could see the resident trying to keep it at bay using a bucket.

Firefighters are at the scene of the fire in Bay View. Photo / Paul Taylor

Fire service assistant area commander Nigel Hall said it took about 30 minutes to get the fire, which started just before 10am, under control.

Resident of two properties had to temporarily evacuate their houses but were allowed back in shortly after.

"The members of public when we arrived were of great assistance."

The homeowner had given them access to his swimming pool to extinguished the fire from the top, Hall said.

He said the cause of the fire was not yet known, however wanted to remind people to check fire restrictions on the fire services website before lighting any fire.

Currently residents of rural areas of Napier require a permit to light a fire.

One firefighter was injured while fighting the fire - rolling their ankle on the steep terrain.