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Wairarapa residents were evacuated last night after a campfire lit in unsuitable conditions sparked a major scrub fire.
The Fire Service was called shortly after 10pm to the blaze, which burned about 80 hectares of scrub at Ocean Beach near Castlepoint, central fire communications shift manager Mike Wanoa said.
About a dozen properties were threatened by the blaze, three of which were occupied, and the residents of those properties were evacuated around midnight, Mr Wanoa said.
Wairarapa principal fire officer Phill Wishnowsky told Newstalk ZB the blaze was started by a campfire lit on the beach in unsuitable conditions.
Those responsible fled the scene and authorities would try to track them down, he said.
Mr Wanoa said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.
- NZPA
