Firefighters battle out-of-control blaze in New Zealand national park

A business owner says Tongariro National Park, on New Zealand's North Island, resembles a hellscape as a massive forest fire continues to burn out of control.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) said the blaze has swelled in size and is now estimated to be covering about 1,000 hectares.

Dozens of hikers have been evacuated from the park, and the public is asked to stay away from the area.

Skotel Alpine Resort owner Sam Clarkson said the resort had a grandstand view of the fire on Saturday night.

"It was like a hellscape — welcome to Mordor — it really was," he said.

"Last night, there was quite a brisk westerly wind, which pushed the fire both east and northwards and the wall of flame was enormous … I would estimate some of those flames are 30 metres high.

"It was hard to see across the flames to the far side, but any time we did, it was just this wall of orange that was at least 4 kilometres long. Everything the fire service was valiantly trying to throw at it was achieving nothing."

He said, fortunately, the fire was heading away from his resort, progressing up the Mangatepopo Road towards the Tongariro Crossing.

The wind had since dropped along with a blanket of fog on Sunday morning, but rain was not forecast until Monday, Mr Clarkson said.

"I watched, literally weeping as the fire went closer and closer and closer to the hill, Pukeonake, which is a sensitive sub-alpine environment where the little communities of plant life all huddle together and live out their lives, and it just got toasted," he said.

"It's just an ecological disaster. There is no risk to people or structures, unless the wind really got up."

Despite six weeks of rain, the fire has proven to be insatiable, he added.

"The park was utterly saturated and then it fined up about a week ago, and I think we'd only had seven or eight days of fine weather in a row after a good six weeks of solid rain, so you would not think it's that tinder dry," Mr Clarkson said.

"But the predominant species in the park, at least on the flats, is tea tree, and tea tree is the most flammable native plant there is — once it's off, it's away."

The community had rallied together in the face of the evacuation and closure of Tongariro National Park, he said.

On Saturday, 43 hikers and a warden from Mangatepopo Hut were airlifted out in response to the fire, according to the Department of Conservation (DOC).

"In fact, we ended up putting up those people and feeding them … we were part of the effort to look after everybody," Mr Clarkson said.

On Sunday morning, a further nine hikers were evacuated from the national park, having left Waihohonu Hut, a DOC spokesperson said.

DOC said it expects there will be "significant biodiversity impacts", given the size of the fire.

'Pretty chill about it'

A local who runs a food truck in Waimarino, a township near Tongariro National Park, said locals were hopeful the fire would not be fanned by winds that had picked up slightly on Sunday.

Johnny Ryburn said he was down swimming at the Whakapapa River on Saturday when the blaze began.

"It pretty much kicked off while I was out there," he said. "It was pretty small when it started, and from what I know it started around the the road that takes you towards the Tongariro Crossing. From there it just got massive and went up the road and stuck towards the side of Tongariro."

Despite this, locals were not too worried, Mr Ryburn said.

"Everybody's still pretty chill about it, you know? I think because it seems to be staying a lot closer to Tongariro and [Mount] Ngauruhoe people aren't super concerned," he said.

Six fire trucks, five tankers, six helicopters and two planes

Firefighters from Taranaki and Manawatū-Whanganui were briefed on Sunday morning before beginning work on the second day of operations.

Assistant Commander Nick West said the fire service will have six fire trucks and five tankers on the fireground, supported by six helicopters and two aeroplanes.

There are no reports of structures being damaged or destroyed and no residents were evacuated overnight.

Mr West said it could take a full day of operations to bring the fire under control.

An RNZ reporter on the scene said the southern line of the fire stretched from State Highway 47 a number of kilometres east into the scrub and young pine, but it was not clear whether the fire had reached the Tongariro crossing track itself.

The were huge flames in a couple of places in the line, and helicopters appeared to be concentrating on those areas.

The cause of the fire has not been established and a specialist wildfire investigator will be working on Sunday.

Residents in the area are being urged to stay alert to the fire, and keep doors and windows shut to minimise exposure to the smoke. Anyone who feels unsafe, or is vulnerable to smoke is encouraged to self-evacuate and stay with family or friends.

FENZ advises those to the north of the fire should go towards Turangi and those to the south of the fire should go towards National Park.

State Highway 47 Waimarino to Tongariro remains closed between the intersections with State Highway 48 and State Highway 46 with no detours available.

The Department of Conservation has closed the Tongariro Crossing and associated areas.

A no-fly zone is in place covering the airspace over the fireground and surrounding area, so that firefighting aircraft are not endangered by other aircraft or drones.

Radio New Zealand