Firefighters remained at the scene of a 4ha scrub fire near Te Haroto on Friday. Photo / Paul Taylor
Firefighters remained at the scene of a 4ha scrub fire near Te Haroto, Hawke's Bay, on Friday.
Three helicopters and a further 50 firefighters battled the large vegetation fire along State Highway 5, 10km south of Tarawera, on Thursday afternoon.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said forestry crews remained on site on Friday to monitor the area.
"The crews dampened down hotspots to stop any flair ups," a spokesman said.
State Highway 5 was closed from 12pm on Thursday, but reopened by 4.30pm after a four hour battle with the blaze.
Hawke's Bay Fire and Emergency NZ area manager Ken Cooper said resources, including helicopters and additional staff, had been on standby.
"Thursday was an extreme weather day in terms of temperature, humidity and wind, so we were predicting that this could be a potentially hazardous day if a fire did break out," he said.
"We were able to mobilise these units very quickly to the incident."
'It is a much more efficient way of getting twice as many apples using a lot less water.'