Fire contained: It's been a good day, says Yule

Up to seven helicopters had been over the area, by afternoon they were making occasional forays to check for hotspots. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule was relieved to report "it was a good day" yesterday after the morning's threat of the Waimarama Rd fire spreading to a 200ha neighbouring pine tree plantation.

By 5pm fire authorities believed the wildfire was mostly contained, he said.

Up to seven helicopters had been over the area since the morning, and by afternoon they were assembled in a paddock at the bottom of Waimarama Rd, making occasional forays to check for hotspots.

The Salvation Army caravan, which had arrived on Monday, was starting to be packed down early yesterday afternoon, but still feeding a slower convoy of crew members that remained.

"The situation has normalised," Mr Yule said last night, and with the local crews' engines back in the sheds, it was again possible to fight other fires if need be.

Mr Yule has himself experienced a similar situation 15 to 20 years ago when a fire descended on his farm and property.

"We had a major fire in January - it burnt a lot of our farm, but it didn't get to the buildings - we had to take the livestock out of the way."

He said it was both scary and expensive, costing about $280,000 in total to extinguish.

"This fire will also be in the hundreds of thousands to put out."

The council would cover that cost and then be reimbursed by the National Rural Fire Authority (NRFA) fund, unless it was proved someone was liable, in which case the NRFA would pursue them for the costs.