"It makes it much more difficult because fire spreads faster and the ground is also very dry," he said.
A second fire on a hillside in Puketapu, measuring 300m by 500m, was attended by six New Zealand fire services appliances and three rural fire service appliances, who were called to the scene at 3.14pm.
Fire services were also called to a grass fire on Endsleigh Rd in Havelock North which blazed close to residential houses.
Two appliances from Havelock North, one from Napier and another from Taradale attended the fire emergency.
Unison power lines company relationship manager Danny Gough said pockets of power lines around Hawke's Bay were damaged in the recent strong winds.
Mr Gough said although 140 customers experienced outages in Clive, Havelock North and rural areas, the damage done was good considering the conditions.
"We actually did pretty good, the networks held up pretty well considering the wind," he said.
While he couldn't confirm if any fires in the region had been started by trees coming into contact with downed lines, Mr Gough said it's safe to say that given the windy weather some trees and branches may have come down and made contact with power lines.
"We always try to work with landowners in regards to the space between trees and powerlines ... to ensure the trees are kept well away from lines," he said.
Mr Gough said Unison crews worked throughout the night to restore power and said any downed lines should be treated as live and with caution.
Mr Dunbar said there had been much activity right throughout the eastern region of the North Island; fire services attending storm damages in Wellington and a house fire in Feilding as well as the several large fires in Hawke's Bay.
Mr Dunbar stressed the importance of checking the fire conditions before burning on www.checkitsalright.nz.
Hastings District Council currently has a total fire ban, with all permits previously approved now suspended.
The fire ban prohibits the lighting of all fires in the open air, fireworks, fires on the beach, charcoal or wood barbecues, pizza ovens, braziers, and chimenea, traditional cooking fires, hangi and umu.