Helicopters and fire crews are this morning back out at a fire which spread over 100ha of manuka scrub land and beech forest between Te Pohue and Puketitiri yesterday.
The fire started just before 2pm in an area reached by only chopper and was left overnight due to the legal requirements of helicopters working in the dark.
The fire ripped through forestry and East Kaweka Helicopter owner Chris Crosse said the smoke went from being barely visible to inferno in 20 minutes.
He was doing a couple of trips in and out of the Kaweka Forest when he noticed the smoke.
"It was coming from about 2km up the Ripia River and, with the snow fall back in August, a lot of the branches and wood are broken up on the bush ground, which only exaggerates the fire."