Fire investigators are continuing to work to determine the cause of the fire.
There will be cordons in place tomorrow on Island Block Rd and Falls Rd between 8am and 6pm for residents’ access only.
Tinworth said people near the fire should contact the Environmental Health Officer for advice before using food, feed or water from storage tanks for drinking as these may have been impacted by smoke and ash.
“We acknowledge people will be impacted by this fire and have worked hard to limit those impacts.
“Our crews gave it their all to bring this fire under control as quickly as they did, and I want to thank them for that.”
New footage shows when fire got ‘out of control’
A resident called Fenz about the fire at 1.14pm on Monday, took a video of the blaze at 1.20pm as it progressed, and their last video was at 1.43pm when it had “gotten out of control”.
Fenz was alerted to the scene at 1.15pm on Monday.
“I have a video as it started to get out of control, as well as videos of it as it progressively burned,” the resident said.
Smoke moves across Coromandel
Thames Coromandel District Council civil defence controller Garry Towler told radio station CFM that winds changing direction had caused smoke density to increase in Thames on Wednesday.
Towler said the smoke was moving up and across the Coromandel and advised residents to close windows and doors.
Tinworth said the fire had not grown significantly in size.
He said Fenz crews’ “solid progress” fighting the fire was largely thanks to the help of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
The fire has burnt through more than 1000ha of scrub and wetland since Monday in the Island Block area. Photo / Malisha Kumar
“The aircraft have been doing great work to slow the spread of the fire while the ground crews have been getting that containment line in so we can get this fire stopped in its tracks,” Tinworth said.
“It’s hard work for our crews, and I want to thank them for all their efforts throughout the day.”
Tinworth said firefighters were aware there was “some anxiety” in the community about the fire and the large amount of smoke in the area.
“I just want to reassure people that we have your safety as our top priority.
“While we don’t expect anyone to be in any danger during this incident, we will let you know if there is any danger to you or your property well ahead of time.
“This is a really beautiful part of the country with considerable environmental value, and we’re doing our best to prevent it from being destroyed.”
The fire burned close to the Whangamarino Wetland.
Earlier Wednesday, Fenz called on members of the public not to fly drones anywhere near the 15km wide fire ground near Meremere.
The call came after a drone sighting in the area of the fire forced Fenz to halt all air operations for a short time.
Tinworth said this was standard practice because drones are a serious threat to aircraft.
“A mid-air collision between a drone and a helicopter could have fatal consequences,” he said.
“Members of the public must not fly drones anywhere near the fire ground.
“This impacted our ability to fight this fire as air operations have been our main avenue for suppression of the fire.”
Tinworth said the drone was quickly grounded and air operations were able to resume after a break of around 10 minutes.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.
Maryana Garcia is a Hamilton-based reporter covering breaking news in Waikato. She previously wrote for the Rotorua Daily Post and Bay of Plenty Times.
