Battling Hawke's Bay forest fire: Firefighters say it's the toughest in 30 years

Walking 15km a day over steep, charred terrain in full firefighting gear is the task asked of those fighting the Tangoio forest fire.

Then there's the smoke, the latent heat and the occasional licks of flames on the ground of what is the biggest fire many of the team on the ground have seen.

Those working through 12-hour days - Fire and Emergency services volunteers and forestry contractors - spoke of the challenge on Wednesday, but also of the reward in knowing that together, they'd contained a beast.

The fire that raged across 350 hectares has now mostly been extinguished, leaving a desolate landscape behind.

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The first call reporting the fire was paged through to Fire and Emergency services at 11.45am on Monday.

The first responders reached it at noon.

Bayview fire chief Richard Hinks, who has been volunteering for more than 30 years, said the forest fire was the hardest to fight that he'd been involved in over that time.

"It has been pretty full on. It is the biggest fire I have seen."

Hinks along with his son Nick, also a volunteer firefighter, were part of the first responders group.

"My wife is very understanding. The brigade is very family oriented. We are doing this for the community."

Fellow firefighter Nicole Schinkel said fighting the fire was taking its toll on her and family.

"I only got two hours of sleep yesterday. I got back home at 1.30am and was back on the job at 5am.

"There have been a few unhappy campers at home. I am getting home dirty, smelling of smoke, and then it's just shower and sleep."

But like everyone else that has been the least of her worries.

"The heat, the smoke is pretty bad. You can't see, can't breathe."

One of the most experienced forestry contractors, Shane Seymour, said there were about 30 other contractors involved.

"We have walked 15 to 20km of steep country every day and the heat is the hardest part."

It doesn't help that they have to wear a helmet, overalls, are carrying food, spade for digging a hole and burying hot spots, and several litres of water.

"It gets quite hot," he said.

But that was par for the course and fellow contractor Scott Pearson said it was a learning curve.

"It's a good learning experience. Right now the focus is extinguishing hot spots.

"We want to prevent it from jumping the ground now."

While the teams were hard at work the Hawke's Bay Salvation Army Emergency Services had a catering truck on site, preparing snacks, lunch and dinner for them.

Co-ordinator Craig Campbell said the service was called in on Monday.

Since then rostered teams of up to seven had been cooking up a storm.

The service's largest truck is an ex-Fire Service command vehicle that the Salvation Army has converted into a fully equipped commercial kitchen.

"They are being really well fed, which is very important when they're doing such hard physical work," Campbell said.

"It's about supporting these people who are on the front line."

Incident controller Trevor Mitchell said it was a great service "much appreciated by the guys out there on the hill".