Residents of Kaimaumau in the Far North are being urgently evacuated as a huge scrub fire threatens their homes for a second time. 

The order to evacuate came from Fire and Emergency NZ incident controller John Sutton just after 2pm today. 

One firefighter is being treated for smoke inhalation suffered during this afternoon's flare-up. 

Sutton instructed the settlement's roughly 30 families to leave immediately with a change of clothing and assemble at Waiharara School on State Highway 1. 

The firefighter has also been taken to the evacuation centre where St John Ambulance medics are treating him. 

The school had previously been used as a base for helicopter firefighting operations. 

The helicopter base is now being shifted back to a farm off Srhoj Rd where the choppers operated from in the first days of the fire. 

The fire started on December 18 and by Boxing Day had swept through 2360ha of scrub and wetland, most of it conservation land. 

The blaze had been contained and largely under control until today. 

High temperatures and strong winds have reportedly fanned dangerous flare-ups both on the northern flank and in the south near the village. 

Three helicopters had been assisting ground crews fighting the blaze in recent days — down from 11 at the start — but reinforcements arriving from around Northland since 2pm today have boosted that number to six. 

Two more choppers are on standby and ready to head to Kaimaumau. 

The number of helicopters fighting the blaze has been boosted from three to six since 2pm with two more on standby. Photo / Lisa Everitt 

Sutton said crews had been back-burning within the containment lines near Kaimaumau village this morning but a wind change in the afternoon had pushed the fire across the firebreak. 

The village had been evacuated as a precaution and firefighters were in place to protect homes and other structures. 

This morning FENZ closed Kaimaumau Rd and urged the public to stay away from beaches in the area. 

East Beach, on the shore of Rangaunu Harbour, is a popular fishing and recreation area accessed via Kaimaumau settlement. 

Sutton stressed the fire ground, including the adjoining beach, was off limits to residents and visitors. 

''This is an active fire and we cannot ensure the safety of any member of the public who chooses to go in there," he said. 

As well as fire, hazards in the area included fire-damaged trees, deep holes left by gumdiggers, peat fires burning underground, and wetland. 

''We ask everyone in the Kaimaumau, Waiharara and Houhora areas to please think about the safety of their whānau and friends, and stay well away from the fireground. Fires are dynamic and the situation can change very quickly,'' he said. 

The Kaimaumau fire as seen on day one of the blaze. Photo / Lisa Everitt 

The Kaimaumau wetland is — or was — Northland's largest surviving wetland and one of the region's most significant in terms of the threatened species such as geckos, native orchids and birds that called it home. 

Even before the latest flare-up Forest & Bird Northland conservation manager Dean Baigent-Mercer called the fire ''a tragedy on a national scale''. 

Fires have occurred naturally in the peat swamp for millennia but their increasing frequency has conservations worried. 

One of the rarest species found in the wetland is the Australasian bittern, a bird with the same conservation status as the rare kākāpō. 

- by Peter de Graaf, NZ Herald