Police have received reports of a drone flying in the Wakefield area and urging the pilot to ground it.
"Drone activity has the potential to stop all helicopters responding to the emergency fire situation. This is extremely dangerous and our priority is to ensure the helicopters can continue with their work," police said today.
• 235 homes evacuated, residents can't return for up to three days
• Fire has spread to 1900 hectares at two sites near Nelson
• PM Jacinda Ardern flies into today to survey damage
• At least one home has been destroyed, with confirmed damage to others
The Pigeon Valley fire outside of Nelson is still "out of control", a top fire chief says.
One property was confirmed lost to the fire, FENZ incident controller John Sutton confirmed this morning, describing it as "terrible" news.