Heat still on at Tangoio fire site as Hawke's Bay rain looks likely

Clear blue sky and the peak condition of Te Mata on a sunny Sunday in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Ian Cooper

A flare-up on the site of the Tangoio forests fires five days after the fires were declared under control has highlighted the risks that remain.

From his office working on rosters for ongoing work, which could last well into next month, principal rural fire officer Trevor Mitchell said that while a helicopter was used to fly over the area after the flare-up on Sunday morning, the flames were able to be safely contained by ground crews.

The original fires spread over about 350 hectares on Monday and Tuesday within the perimeter of Tangoio Settlement Rd and hills towards State Highway 2 but there was no further spread in Sunday's flare-up.

"We have got little fires up every time we get a bit of wind," Mitchell said.

Firefighting on a Tangoio hillside north of Napier on Wednesday. Photo / Paul Taylor

"It's not unexpected."

Fire services have also been keeping a watch for similar situations on land near Fernhill where a fire also raged on Monday afternoon.

Sunday's flare-up at Tangoio happened as temperatures headed towards 30C in parts of Hawke's Bay, the hottest in areas north of Napier.

According to MetService it was 31C in Wairoa between 2.30 and 3.30pm on Sunday, only marginally lower than the nationwide extremes in Canterbury.

On Saturday the Wairoa maximum of 27.9C was the fifth-warmest of the Metservice recording stations throughout New Zealand.

But some relief for fire authorities worried about the drying-out of Hawke's Bay over the next fortnight towards the expected traditional summer peaks of well over 30C from late January may be ahead with rain being forecast to develop tomorrow followed by some expectation of some showers over the following few days.

By mid-afternoon Sunday, Fire and Emergency New Zealand had about 12 calls in Hawke's Bay during the weekend, with causes of two fires considered to be suspicious, according national communications centre shift manager Murray Dunbar.

The first was discovered after an alarm activation at a Whakatu packhouse building at 11.14pm on Saturday and confined to one room. Four trucks were sent to the fire and crews were involved for almost an hour.

The second was a car fire reported at 12.25am Sunday near the Fernhill bridge. It was ablaze when the first truck arrived, but no one else was reported to have been at the scene.

A laundry on a property in Napier Rd, Havelock North, was also extensively damage on Saturday night. The service was called at 8.20pm but arrived to find the fire had been partly extinguished by the home owner.

Emergency services also called to a crash involving a truck on State Highway 2, north of Bay View on Saturday. No injuries reported.