Eleven houses were evacuated after three fires broke out in the valley on Wednesday afternoon.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) says two were extinguished, but the largest had spread to five hectares of maturing pine forest by nightfall.
Crews patrolled the area overnight and heavy machinery operators worked through the night to cut firebreaks.
The fire was not yet contained or controlled, Fenz incident controller Steve Trigg said.
There were no reports of damage to properties overnight.
Seven helicopters would resume an aerial attack and excavators would continue to make firebreaks today.
"Specialist forestry silviculture / firefighting crews would be on the ground, using thermal imaging equipment to identify hotspots and tackling each one with hand tools and hoses. The command unit is also on site and continuously staffed," Trigg said.
People were asked to stay away from the roadblocks so emergency services did not face delays in moving in and out of the area.
Private drones were not to be flown anywhere near the valley as this could ground helicopters or risk mid-air collision, Trigg said.
The civil defence centre at Wanderers' Clubrooms on Lord Rutherford Drive will reopen at 8am.
Lee Valley resident Lorraine O'Meara heard sirens about 4pm and with trees along the boundary of her property and went to have a look.
"[It] looked like a little piece of grass fire on the side of the road and of course with the wind blowing up the valley, it just went straight up the hill," she said.
Fenz were on to the fire fast but it had spread quickly, she said.
"It's so tinder dry, with the winds blowing, something starts and you've got a piece of ash ember that can blow away and there's your next fire and then the next one and it's just exponential.
"Fires can start just by a little spark of rock hitting rock or you know, cigarette butt or even a car backfiring."
O'Meara was advised by police to prepare to evacuate.
"We've been here for 26 years and got a lot of animals and weren't going to evacuate but think it must have been about 7 o'clock they said 'nope, you're out' and we had to get out.
"We got the dog and the bird but I've got three cats and a whole farm full of animals still out there so it's a bit distressing, calmed down a bit now but I wasn't very happy."
She was waiting at the cordon and would go back as soon as the road reopened.
