By Thursday 27 February, the Waipoua forest blaze had grown to 96 hectares, with a 4.5 kilometre perimeter, Fire and Emergency NZ said.
Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel

There will be a big push today to fully contain a 100-hectare fire near Northland’s Waipoua Settlement.

Fire and Emergency says if that is successful, 20 people evacuated four days ago could go home on Sunday.

Incident controller Corey Matchitt said that would also depend on the health risk posed by smoke, which filled the valley in the mornings before the wind came up.

One hundred firefighters, many of them freshly arrived from Auckland, are fighting the fire today.

Meanwhile, Kaipara’s Mayor is confident the world’s largest surviving Kauri tree is safe from the fire.

A total fireban has now been imposed across much of Northland at the top of the Far North, around Hokianga, and the Ripiro and Paparoa fire districts.

Craig Jepson told Saturday Morning that despite the blaze being some kilometres away, there was no danger towards Tane Mahuta at this stage.

Jepson expected the fire to be fully extinguished in a week.

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