Daniel Marsh spent yesterday in a warm place near water - but it was not the lakeside holiday he had planned.
Mr Marsh was among the two crews of volunteer firefighters and four Fulton Hogan staff who gave up their Christmas holiday to prevent the blaze, which tore through more than 25ha of scrub and forest on Signal Hill on Tuesday, from reigniting yesterday.
It was a world away from how the engineer/mechanic had intended to spend his 2016 end-of-year holiday.
Before the rest of his family set off for Lake Mahinerangi yesterday, Mr Marsh had was up at 5.45am to get to Wakari Fire Station by 6.30am and on to the fire ground by 7am.
Early morning starts are tough for anyone, but making it worse for Mr Marsh was the fact he had only arrived home at midnight on Tuesday after battling the blaze since mid-afternoon.
However, Mr Marsh saw it as just doing his bit.
''I would expect someone to turn up and help me if there was a fire burning around my house,'' he said.
It was an attitude echoed by Department of Conservation staff members and fellow volunteers Bruce McKinlay and Amanda Salt.
Ms McKinlay, a threatened species specialist, and Miss Salt, a biodiversity supervisor, spent yesterday morning on the exhausting task of trudging over uneven ground, dragging a hose, to dig up and dampen any hot spots.
''It's OK,'' Mr McKinlay said.
''You don't have to hurry at the work - you just have to keep at it and it's not as if there's any big flames or anything dangerous.''
''It's tough on the back,'' Miss Salt said.
''But the good news is the hills are so steep we don't have to bend over too much to do the work.''
The pair had planned to spend the holiday ''mucking around at home'', but instead, like Mr Marsh, expected to work until dark yesterday.
They were looking forward to a cold drink and a good night's sleep.
