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Auckland lawyer Graham McKenzie heard the fireworks, then saw the flames, and watched in horror as the fire grew 20m high and headed for his family's Hahei beach house.
"You could see it come at you," he said. "It was genuinely frightening."
The McKenzies were one of several families evacuated from homes in the Coromandel town on Wednesday night, when a fire started by teenagers with fireworks tore through a cliff-side reserve and cut off a popular walkway to Cathedral Cove.
Firefighters are expected to continue fighting the remains of the blaze today which the Department of Conservation says has destroyed 20 years of conservation work.
"It was just completely out of control," Mr McKenzie said. "The firemen couldn't deal with it because it was so fierce."
With the fire looming less than 100m away, the 55-year-old did not wait for the evacuation order from police, instead making a quick phone call to his parents-in-law to see if there was anything particularly precious they wanted salvaged.
Then he packed his wife, Linda, their 14-year-old jack russell terrier, Snoopy, and a few family photographs into the car, while he stayed for a few more minutes to hose water around the 1970s wooden property.
Sitting on the balcony in the sunshine yesterday, he said: "Today, it seems all surreal, but it was close."
He believes the bach and other endangered homes on Tutaritari Rd were spared by the southwesterly wind, which blew the fire away from Hahei. "If the wind had come from the north as it normally does in summertime, we would've been history."
He and his neighbours were full of praise for helicopter pilots who flew through the night to dump monsoon buckets of seawater.
"To get to the seat of the fire, they flew pretty close," said Auckland engineer Raph Engle, whose bach of eight years was also threatened.
Fire crews from around the Coromandel spent all yesterday battling the blaze, with a helicopter flying non-stop missions to sea to fill the monsoon bucket before returning to dump it on the smouldering cliffs.
Fire crews from the mostly volunteer brigades of Hahei, Cooks Beach, Whitianga, Tairua, Whangamata and Thames carried hoses into the reserve. Chief fire officer Ian Carter said he had only two hours sleep since the fire began at 10.30pm on Wednesday and, like the other firefighters, was exhausted.
He said the fire was taking a long time to extinguish because of the location and had been difficult to fight in the dark.
Water was drawn from four 22,000 litre tanks in the hills as well as the sea, and firefighters were to remain on duty through the night and today because of concern over flare-ups.
Hahei has a fire ban in the summer months.
DoC Hauraki area manager John Gaukrodger said the fire had been started by teenagers letting off fireworks on the beach.
"For a few seconds of enjoyment with some fireworks, they've put the area back about 20 years."
Conservation staff had pulled out pines and gorse and planted native trees in the reserve over the two decades, helping turn Cathedral Cove into a place of international renown.
"A black scar like that doesn't look pretty," he said, pointing to the now destroyed 2ha patch of vegetation through which walkers from Hahei to Cathedral Cove would usually pass. The track is expected to remain closed for at least three weeks until a bridge damaged by the fire can be assessed and repaired. But walkers should be able to access the cove from tomorrow, when a carpark leading to the last half of the track is expected to reopen.
Police are investigating the fire but said they not yet spoken to anyone.
