A 3ha fire that came within 20m of an inaccessible house in the Far North has been extinguished.
Emergency services received numerous calls about the large gorse fire near Kaeo just before 4pm.
The fire and the house it was endangering were inaccessible by road so ground crews had to trek in from the end of Waitapu Creek Rd while two helicopter dropped water from above.
There are several other houses on the inaccessible peninsula.
"We've been in contact with residents of one house who say the fire is about 20m away now," a Fire Service spokesman said about 4.30pm.
