KEY POINTS:
About 70 firefighters remained at the scene of several apparently deliberate Hawke's Bay fires in the past 24 hours.
Firefighters were first called to Mohaka, between Napier and Wairoa, about 1.45pm yesterday.
Wairoa principal rural fire officer Te Aroha Cook said there were several fires in the Mohaka area yesterday afternoon and overnight.
The biggest was a forest blaze over a 25ha block which closed State Highway 2 and caused a house to be evacuated.
Seven helicopters, four appliances and two tankers battled the flames.
Today, about 70 firefighters were still at the scene damping down the remains of the earlier fires and containing new outbreaks.
Wairoa police were investigating the possibility of arson.
Eastern region fire manager Trevor Brown said the fires were being treated as suspicious because of the significant number in the last couple of weeks.
"You can never be certain about this but you have to say yes -- conditions aren't that extreme at this stage."
- NZPA
