COMMENT: For me a cloudy rainy humid summer that promotes lush vegetation and full water tanks is an absolute blessing.

With temperatures expected to heat up this week, fire crews are racing against the clock to contain the Port Hills blaze and prevent any further loss.

Port Hills residents will have temporary access to their property so they can collect essential items and check on pets today.

Civil Defence is reminding the public that the Port Hills fire and surrounding zones are off limits to everyone, including recreational users.

Watch: A 1990 video produced for the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi has resurfaced, and stars a then 10-year-old Steve Askin.

Authorities working to contain the Port Hills fire are being helped by drizzle, which is forecast to turn to light rain this afternoon.

Frustrated Port Hills locals are getting desperate to know when they will be allowed back onto their properties.

The entire hotel was evacuated while the source of the smoke was located.

Christchurch must be wondering what it has done to deserve the ravages of nature.

Ten of eleven houses destroyed in Port Hills fire could have been saved had career firefighters not been sent home at the start of blaze, union bosses say.

The Port Hills inferno was so powerful that it was spreading up to 160m every minute at it's peak, and water firefighters put on it evaporated.

Smoky smells in Port Hills' properties does not pose a serious threat to health, authorities say.

Port Hills homeowners have this afternoon been allowed to return to their smouldering homes that have burned to the ground.

Frustrated homeowners still don't know whether their Port Hills homes are standing or have been ravaged by fire.

Contractors working in the area where the devastating fire first broke out on Monday pleaded for helicopters to be sent out, it can be revealed.

Plans are under way to get stranded residents back home, but winds may yet pose a danger.

Kiwis dig deep to support family of helicopter pilot killed fighting Christchurch's Port Hills fire.

Helicopters are getting ready to go up and give emergency workers an overview of any fresh destruction.

Civil Defence minister wants the law governing emergencies improved.

A quieter night for firefighters as the deadly Port Hills wildfire enters its fifth day.

Watch: The wildfire races across a section of the Port HIlls, growing in intensity, in the timelapse footage.

Civil Defence's reports of houses destroyed by fire and evacuations over the past 24 hours have varied wildly.

A Christchurch couple who were told that their home was lost in the Port Hills blaze, just hours after finally insuring it, appear to have had a lucky escape.

Exactly how many properties have been damaged by fires in Christchurch will not be known until much later, authorities say. And although

Firefighters have put out a large blaze at a Waikato sandblasting premises this evening.

The gorse, grass and pines on the Port Hills are ideal plants to fuel the wildfires sweeping through the area.

A photographer who surveyed the damage of the Port Hills fire from the air has shared the incredible images that show the devastation.

Port Hills fire updates: Amazing images show the extent of the damage from the air, and just how close it came to some properties.

While the cause of the Port Hills fires was being investigated, it did "seem a bit odd" that two fires had started at about the same time, says the Prime Minister.

The Canterbury DHB and the Asthma & Respiratory Foundation have issued warnings about smoke inhalation for those affected by the Port Hills fires.