Police have located the 47-year-old woman wanted in connection with a fire at a rural property near Greytown yesterday.

Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said on Wednesday police were speaking with the woman, and she is assisting them with their inquiries into the suspicious fire on Wards Line.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday morning, causing extensive damage to at least four properties on the same lot.

A local man on Wards Line said he woke in the early hours to the sound of banging, and thought someone was out shooting.

"But it got louder and I thought 'no, that's not shooting'," he told NZME.

He opened his window to see the house north of his was on fire. He then opened the curtains and realised two homes, a barn and several outbuildings were also on fire.

"I thought 'it's Armageddon' . . . it was terrifying."

The resident got dressed and went outside to find one of the neighbours whose home it was running down the street.

He took her in and gave her a hot drink, and her husband too when he arrived.

He said their smoke alarms woke them and they fled their house with just the clothes on their backs.

The couple had an idea of how the fires started, but the man was "not at liberty to say".

"I guess it will all come out in the wash."