People are being asked to stay away from Matakana Island and to avoid flying drones in the area.

That is the message as firefighters continue to work on containing a fire on Matakana Island near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, with extra resources being sent to the island today.

Fire and Emergency District Commander Jeff Maunder said helicopters have to stop operating when drones are near the fireground.

He said the immediate aim was to prevent the fire from breaking out into pine forest “and to have it contained by 9pm tonight, when the helicopters will have to stop working”.

As of 1pm today, 26 firefighters and three helicopters with monsoon buckets were working to suppress the fire, while heavy machinery is being used to make firebreaks.

The fire has burnt over 30 hectares of forestry and slash. Smoke is also drifting across the harbour towards Tauranga, which has prompted several people to call 111 this afternoon.

While the weather conditions have been mostly favourable for firefighting so far, the sea breeze was causing flare ups this afternoon, Maunder said.

“Firefighters will stay on the fireground overnight and more crews will be brought in tomorrow. An incident management team has been activated to direct operations. An investigation into the cause of the fire has also begun.”

Eariler

Like a “taniwha” and really “scary” - that’s how a Rangiwaea and Matakana Island resident has described a large fire that broke out last night.

Mikaere Sydney said it was quite scary.

He said helicopters were filling up monsoon buckets.

The fire on Matakana Island

“It was quite scary. There was a big orange glow, and [it was] like a big taniwha.”

Sydney said he was coming home from the town last night when he first saw the glow.

“The social media channels on our local community page just went off. It’s close to the airstrip and beach access road. It was horrible - I was just gobsmacked, seeing this big glow.”

He said whānau put their dinners aside and their “lives on the line to do the mahi”.

It was comforting there was light rain overnight.

Firefighters are still battling a fire on Matakana Island.

“The ground is a little bit damp this morning, but that still wasn’t enough. We are hoping for a heavy rain today.”

Sydney said today the community was mobilising to supply kai for the people on the ground and were in their kitchens cooking.

“We’re just about to head back into town shortly to load up on supplies like water and food to keep them going. We will catch a boat and come around on the barge.”

Sydney said the Matakana Fire Brigade was first on the scene last night.

He said it was a rerun of a fire in 2020, but that one was smaller.

However, this fire was “a beast”.

Two helicopters, nine fire trucks and 24 crew members were battling the fire this morning.

A helicopter was out at Matakana Island this morning as heavy smoke is seen coming for a large section of the forest. Photo / Alex Cairns

Fire and Emergency New Zealand was alerted to the fire at 7.36pm on Saturday.

Crews monitored the fire overnight, and this morning firefighting crews from the Tauranga area travelled to the island by barge.

Acting shift manager Ryan Geen said the fire burned over approximately 20 hectares of forestry and slash.

“The fire is sporadic throughout the 20 hectares, and we have heavy machinery working on it,” he says.

No houses were at risk.

Bree Tregurtha-nairn who lives in Gate Pa said she smelt smoke this morning and “little pieces of ash travelling through the air”.

“I noticed there was a bit of ash on my car as well.”

Kaumatua Hauta Palmer said he lived a distance away from the fire behind a big shelter belt but “as far as I’m aware there is no big panic”.

“Everyone is talking about it and I don’t think there is any concern. The concern is it may spread...it will impact the people living on the old mill side.”

Earlier

Firefighters from various stations across the Bay of Plenty responded to a large vegetation fire on Matakana Island last night.

A helicopter was requested to help battle the blaze.

Matakana on fire. Photo / Alex Cairns

The fire was in the pine forest and was spreading fast.

A large plume of smoke was visible from across Tauranga.

“Fire and Emergency New Zealand was alerted to a forest fire on Matakana Island near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty at 7.36pm last night.

“We have several crews in attendance at the fire in a forestry block in south Matakana,” Fire and Emergency shift manager Garreth Lewis said last night..

“The fire is approximately 300m by 300m, and it’s very visible from the mainland,” he said.

“Fire crews will remain on scene overnight to monitor the fire, and we ask people to stay away from the area.

“We have multiple crews that will respond to the fire tomorrow morning by barge and a helicopter on scene at first light.”