'The whole sky lit up': Defiant home owner stayed put to defend house as Hastings scrub fire bore down

Crews were called to the blaze on Korokipo Rd, Fernhill, about 10.45pm on Tuesday. Photo / Warren Buckland

A Hastings man was among many who stayed to defend their family homes as a large scrub fire "lit up" the sky around him, despite calls for evacuation by firefighters.

Hawke's Bay firefighters spent much of Tuesday night at the scene of the blaze on Korokipo Rd, in Fernhill – one of at least two which broke out in the region that night.

Crews were called to the fire about 10.45pm, which put up to six properties at risk – including one that suffered minor damage.

Fire and Emergency NZ said while homes were evacuated, no structures were lost.

The fire spread to about 200m along the roadside, according to a witness at the scene.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said the experience was "scary for me and my kids".

He said his daughter and grandchildren were taken to Flaxmere to evacuate while he "didn't abandon ship".

"A lot of us stayed and tried to help emergency services, as little fires were popping up everywhere," he said.

"The whole sky was lit up. The fire came right up to the corner of my house after the wind blew everything over."

A large scrub fire on Korokipo Rd caused damage to a number of power lines and poles. Photo / Warren Buckland

The man said at 9am he had been without power for 10 hours.

"They turned the power off. And as we have a pump, we couldn't get water," he said. "All the whanau from down the cul de sac came down to help – there were heaps of them."

Photos from the scene show a large hedge completely scorched from the heat of the fire, while another witness said the fire jumped the road and bought down multiple power lines, and damaged the power poles.

Twenty-five houses remained without power after the blaze as at 3pm on Wednesday.

According to Unison, partial restoration will be needed after the unplanned outage.

Fire and Emergency NZ personnel remained at the scene to monitor flare-ups until 2pm, when it reported all hotspots had been extinguished and crews had returned to their stations.

FENZ senior station officer Dennis O'Leary said his team helped to ensure the fire is completely put out, while police officers helped with traffic control at the scene.

O'Leary said the wind sent the fire across the road.

Tuesday's fire was less than 100 metres from a house with gang insignia that burned down on January 16.

Meanwhile, a suspicious scrub fire was brought under control at Napier's Bluff Hill lookout, after FENZ was notified of the fire at about 6.50pm on Tuesday.

Police and fire crews attended a scrub fire atop Bluff Hill Lookout on Tuesday evening. Photo / NZME

Two fire trucks and a tanker were called to the scrub fire, which was being treated as suspicious.

Police cordoned off Lighthouse Rd and asked pedestrians to avoid using footpaths around the area.

The fire was extinguished shortly before 8pm, with strong winds working in firefighting crew's favour.

MetService meteorologist Tahlia Crabtree said the biggest gust of wind measured between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in Hawke's Bay was 76km/h at the Takapau Plains, between 3am and 4am.

Tuesday's winds in Napier reached highs of 68km/h, according to Crabtree.

Emergency services also responded to a truck roll on State Highway 2 near Tangoio Falls, about 25km north of Napier.

They were notified of the incident about 7pm on Tuesday.