Wairarapa Fire: Crews battle against 'trying conditions', fire 90 per cent contained

Fire crews continue to battle a fire in South Wairarapa. Photo / File

A fire that has been burning in South Wairarapa since 8pm last night is now 90 per cent contained, authorities say.

Four rural fire crews and two helicopters are continuing to battle a scrub fire that broke out near Cape Palliser lighthouse on Monday evening.

Wairarapa Principal rural fire officer Phill Wishnnowsky said there were now 30 firefighters on the ground responding to the blaze.

"We've obviously got a battle on our hands in the current conditions, with both the weather and how dry we are, but we're making good progress."

"We believe we might have it up to about 90 per cent contained, there are a couple of active areas but we're certainly hopeful that we'll get it fully contained by the end of the day.

Fire and Emergency said this morning the fire had already burnt through 45ha, assisted by strong winds.

"It is already very windy and has been throughout the night and right through today," he said.

"We're sort of hanging out for a change in the weather. We're probably optimistic in expecting that, but any help we can get from that will be most welcome."

He said the fire had been running east to west along steep country to the top of a ridge.

"When that fire reached to the top of the ridge it effectively split in two – one fire front is burning back into the wind and the other fire is being pushed through by the wind and travelling in a southerly direction.

The fire was still not threatening property, but Wishnnowsky said they were ready to respond if the fire could not be contained.

"There are a couple of houses and a couple of sheds downwind of the fire, we're very conscious of that," he said.

"There are arrangements in place if we can't contain the fire before it gets close to those buildings, we will switch to a property defence-mode and make sure that we save those buildings."

He said crews were doing a "fantastic job in trying conditions" and at the moment their whole focus was on containment.

"We will have a few days mopping up afterwards … but at this stage we're hopeful that by the end of the day we'll have it fully contained."

They did not yet know how the fire started, he said.