Vegetation fires in Whanganui and South Taranaki fully contained

The Waiinu Beach fire burned through about 30ha this week. Photo / S Ashby

Two large vegetation fires that have been burning for days in the central North Island have now been fully contained.

A fire that started on Sunday at Lismore Forest near Whanganui covered about 100ha.

A specialist wildfire investigator visited the fire ground on Wednesday and indications were the cause was accidental.

Fire and Emergency NZ said on Thursday afternoon the fire, which took hold of pine trees and vegetation across several gullies on SH4 and spread into standing pines, was contained.

“Today [Thursday] ground crews will continue work to extinguish areas of deep-seated fire, supported by heavy machinery,” incident controller Nigel Dravitzki said.

“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.