Ground crews will work through the night in the fight against the huge Tasman blaze after a day in which some Nelson residents were evacuated after a second fire broke out.
Four helicopters with moonsoon buckets were called in to fight the new blaze, which erupted at Walter's Bluff this afternoon. It devoured eucalyptus trees and threatened nearby houses before Nelson firefighters got it under control.
Deputy incident controller Grant Haywood said about 3pm the fire had spread rapidly through Walters Bluff hill threatening six residences.
The only property loss had been a deck on one of the properties, he said.
At an official briefing from emergency services tonight, Fire and Emergency NZ incident controller John Sutton said so far they had managed through the day without significant growth in the initial fire.
"If this continues on for today, it'll put us in a good situation tomorrow."
Ground crews would work throughout the night, Sutton said.
The Walters Bluff fire came after the call was made earlier this afternoon to evacuate the 3000 residents of Wakefield, after fire chiefs feared a northerly wind would lead to the original blaze threatening the town.
The decision to evacuate was made at 12.50pm. It affected between 800-900 homes and was expected to take 4-6 hours.
Civil Defence recovery manager Richard Kirkby said residents needed to go now.
There was no time to dampen down their properties, he said.
Kirkby said between the State Highway and the river, the whole area is being evacuated "as we speak".
"The rest of Wakefield will follow suit, they have all been told to move out, but they are focusing on that first stage and then they will be moving on to the second stage."
Kirkby was encouraging residents to go and stay with family and friends.
"We have opened up the Saxton Stadium and that is sufficiently big that if people need to have a place to stay that will be set aside for them to go and stay there."
The fire front was about 2.5km-3km away early this afternoon..
However, there's fears that a northerly wind, which has just started to pick up, will fan the fire as it did yesterday afternoon.
There have been reports of embers from the blaze jumping 600-800m. It's feared that embers could spark a new front by landing on the tinder-dry area, which has been declared by Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor as being a drought zone.
The Civil Defence Centre in Wakefield has been moved to Saxton Field Stadium.
Residents have been advised by text message. Police officers and Defence Force personnel are then going door-to-door.
Fire officials say the fire is not under control at the moment, Kirby told media.
"They're doing their best to limit where it goes."
There is a fire break around the Wai-iti River at Wakefield.
This morning, more residents were evacuated from their homes in Pigeon Valley as concerns mount about heavy smoke and the possibility weather conditions could fan the flames.
Meanwhile, a medium-scale adverse event has been declared for Tasman district, unlocking further Government support for farmers and growers, O'Connor announced this afternoon.
The wildfire, along with drought conditions in the area around 30km south of Nelson, have combined to make it "a particularly tough time" for those trying to manage stock and grow food, O'Connor said.
"Officials have been working with the local trusts, councils, and industry bodies over the past couple of weeks as the dry weather threatened to tip into drought. The fire has further hurt our rural communities with some stock losses, essential access to water restricted, feed destroyed and infrastructure damaged.
"The acute issue is the management of stock where their owners have evacuated their properties due to the fires."
Extra New Zealand Defence Force personnel were also assisting police with the evacuations.
A reporter at the scene said rural fire vehicles were filling up at the fire station next to the cordon before racing off towards the blaze.
She said there was heaps of white ash falling from the sky, and the cordons had now been moved down the road to the intersection with State Highway 6.
"Some residents on Windlesham Pl, off Pigeon Valley Rd, were distressed. Others were putting water into their gutters through hoses to try and keep the roof catching fire if flames came near," she said.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is working vets, SPCA, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and police to help farmers manage their animals or move them until it's safe to return.
O'Connor said the focus remains on getting the blaze under control, cleaning up the immediate damage, and then supporting the rural sector to recover for winter.
Earlier today it was revealed that the leaseholder of the land where the Tasman bush fire allegedly began on Tuesday afternoon is "co-operating fully" with investigators.
A lawyer acting for N.E. Park & Sons said there are "indications" it may have emanated from land leased by his client company while contractors were operating on that land.
The Herald revealed on Wednesday that a contractor ploughing a tinder-dry field up Pigeon Valley was suspected to have sparked the blaze.
Lawyer Rick Farr says that while it is "far too soon to confirm the source or the cause of the fire", the major concerns now are "ensuring the safety of the residents affected as well as protecting property and infrastructure and of course getting the fire out".
"My client company is co-operating fully with insurance assessors who are on the ground, investigations have commenced and the findings of those investigations will no doubt become public in the fullness of time."
Tasman Deputy Mayor Tim King said today that forestry operations in the top of the South Island had been suspended.
Orchards were also affected, every part of business as usual is going to be affected, he said.
$20,000 Mayoral Relief Fund
The Government has announced a $20,000 Mayoral Relief Fund had been set up to help the authorities battling the Tasman fire.
Speaking from the emergency co-ordination centre where the council and Civil Defence are leading operations yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there were difficult times ahead for people until the fire is under control.
"I can only imagine how difficult it is to pack up what you can and to evacuate so I want to acknowledge the families who have had to do that - and I want to let you know we are here to understand how we can help in the days and weeks ahead."
The funds were in addition to other support that may be available from the Ministry of Social Development, Housing New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Rabbit Island fire 'suspicious'
Officials believe the second Nelson blaze at Rabbit Island was being treated as suspicious.
A community meeting was told that it was "possibly deliberately lit", according to Civil Defence recovery manager Adrian Humphries.
The Rabbit Island fire blazed over 10ha yesterday afternoon. It had been contained by last night and mop up work was under way. Police and FENZ are investigating the cause of the fire, which is yet to be determined.
- additional reporting RNZ
