Firefighters enter third day of work tackling fire at Horeke in Northland

Firefighters are tackling a large scrub fire in Northland

Firefighters battling a large scrub fire in the Far North are entering their third day of work.

Fire and Emergency NZ northern communications acting shift manager Carren Larking said firefighters were returning to the fire today. Yesterday, four fire appliances and three helicopters tackled the blaze on Giles Rd, near Horeke. A further two helicopters were on standby.

Crews were also working with two bulldozers and an excavator.

Fire and Emergency was first called to the scene at 2.15pm on Saturday.

Larking said yesterday that 65ha had been burnt.

A large plume of smoke from a scrub fire near Horeke fills the sky. Photo/Nina Saiganova

She said no houses were at risk and at this stage there was no indication of what caused the fire.

The fire happened on the eve of Northland entering a prohibited fire season.

A restricted fire season had been in place but as of midnight tonight a prohibited fire season will be in effect in the Far North, Whangārei and Kaipara districts.

Irina McDonald, who farms near the fire, said helicopters had been using water from a lake on her property to help fight the fire.

Video footage shot by her mum, Nina Saiganova, shows the orange glow of the fire burning and a very large plume of smoke filling the sky.

The Taheke-Horeke area has been blighted by large wildfires in the past — many sparked by rubbish fires — and was the location of a dedicated fire-reduction campaign by the former Rural Fire Authority, now absorbed into Fire and Emergency NZ.

One of the Far North's biggest fires of recent decades was started by a community trust worker burning off vegetation cut to make way for the Twin Coast Cycle Trail in November 2011.

The flames jumped into the nearby White Cliffs pine plantation at Horeke, burning close to 350ha and threatening homes and a marae. The fire took months and cost $650,000 to extinguish.

In March 2014 a blaze thought to have been started by a rubbish fire ripped through more than 30ha of tinder-dry scrub at Taheke, threatening homes and a pine plantation.

Less than a month later two rubbish fires lit on one day in the same area threatened a home and cost $25,000 to put out.

Go to havingafire.org.nz for information about current fire restrictions.