Northern Hawke’s Bay: Bush fire near Mohaka quelled, with help from helicopter

A bush fire off Mohaka Township Rd in Northern Hawke's Bay on Thursday evening.

A helicopter and firefighters from as far away as Gisborne and Napier were called to a late-Thursday bush fire in Northern Hawke’s Bay.

In an early sign of the drying of Hawke’s Bay, the fire was reported about 4.50pm with smoke billowing from bush in an area off Mohaka Township Rd, about 30km from Wairoa.

The blaze was about 1km west of the former site of the Mohaka Hotel, which itself was destroyed by fire about 30 years ago.

A Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) shift manager said seven fire trucks, understood to include a command vehicle, were mobilised, along with four tankers.

Crews from the Gisborne, Wairoa, Bay View and Napier brigades attended, along with rural firefighting resources from nearby Putorino, and Tuai and Ruakituri, northwest and north of Wairoa.

The Gisborne crew was able to be turned back.

The shift manager said the first crews arrived to find an area of about 80m x 30m burning and spreading uphill.

The fire was accessible by foot from the road, but the steepness of the hillside made it difficult for firefighters.

Wairoa Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy chief fire officer Te Aroha Cook said there had been another another fire in the same area needing similar resources.

The area was steep and difficult terrain for the firefighters, but accessible by foot from the road, she said.

Fanned by a wind, the fire was reported to have been cut-off in its path by 6.30pm, and with the helicopter working to almost dark to dampen the area, crew were able to start leaving about 8.30pm.

The fire came at a time when much of Hawke’s Bay to the south has had five months of less-than-average rainfall, leading to precautionary water restrictions and the enforcement of a restricted fire season.

According to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, rainfall in much of the area from Napier to Wairoa in the last week has ranged from nil to about 5mm.

Meanwhile, a small fire in an extraction system at a Hastings CBD building on Friday morning caused a lot more smoke than fire.

A Fenz spokeswoman said multiple 111 calls were received about 10am, to premises on Heretaunga St East, near the intersection with Russell St.

Two Hastings brigade Fenz crews spent about 45 minutes at the scene and extinguished the fire.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.