A helicopter with a monsoon bucket yesterday joined Fire Service, Department of Conservation and rural firefighting volunteers tackling a bush fire in the Kaweka Forest Park west of Hastings.
The Fire Service was alerted just before 4pm, when the fire in a gully was reported to be threatening the century-old Robson's Lodge, off Lumsden Rd, Kuripapango.
A Fire Service crew from Hastings was sent to the blaze and found the fire largely confined to about a hectare in a gully, with crews from DOC, Hastings-based Heretaunga Rural Fire and Waiwhare Fire Force volunteers at the blaze. DOC and rural fire crews were understood to still be at the scene and keeping watch on the area overnight but a department spokesman was unable to be contacted to confirm the situation.
The fire served as a summer warning as Hawke's Bay topped the temperatures nationwide for a second day in a row.
According to Metservice, the maximum of 30.2deg was recorded in Hastings about 4pm, just over a degree down on Thursday's nationwide peak of 31.4deg. Other maximum temperatures reported in Hawke's Bay yesterday included 29deg at Hawke's Bay Airport just north of Napier, 28.7deg in Waipawa and 28.3deg in Wairoa.
