“I would like to thank all our hard-working crews for their efforts this week. It has been arduous work across steep terrain, and they have done a fantastic job.
“We expect to continue our operations until Sunday with a hope to hand the site back to the forestry owner on Sunday evening.”
The other major fire, involving pine trees on Waiinu Beach Rd in South Taranaki, started on Monday.
Crews returned to the fire on Thursday morning and incident controller Nathan Jones said it had not grown overnight.
“We now have this fire completely contained and today [Thursday] crews are focusing on strengthening the containment lines.
”There are 18 people on the ground supported by heavy machinery, trucks and support vehicles.
“Smoke is still visible in the middle of the fire, but this is not a concern.”
Jones said they were working around the fire’s perimeter to ensure it did not spread.
“I’d like to thank the crews and contractors for their mahi getting this fire contained. They’ve been working around the clock all week and have done a fantastic job.”
He said they hoped to move into a monitoring phase at the end of Thursday.
The fire burned about 30ha.
