'Welcome to Mordor': Massive fire rages at Tongariro

By Victor Waters of RNZ

A business owner says Tongariro National Park resembles a hellscape as a massive forest fire continues to burn.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said the blaze has swelled in size and is now estimated to be covering about 1000ha and remains out of control.

Skotel Alpine Resort owner Sam Clarkson said they had a grandstand view of the fire last night.

"It was like a hellscape, you know, welcome to Mordor, it really was."

"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 30m high."

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

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

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

"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 and you would not think that it's that tinder dry."

"But you see, 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.

A total 43 hikers and a warden from Mangatepopo Hut were airlifted out in response to the fire according to the Department of Conservation.

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

Firefighters from Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui 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 fixed wing aircraft.

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

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 SH47 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.