Three people had to be rescued from Mt Maunganui overnight as fire, possibly started by a flare, took hold of the mountain.
New Zealand fire service assistant area commander Aaron Waterreus has confirmed reports of a flare sighted at the mountain just before the fire began.
Mr Waterreus said when firefighters arrived, there were three people on the landmark Bay of Plenty mountain.
Overnight - massive fire on Mt Maunganui still not under control or contained https://t.co/5GEC4XGNXT pic.twitter.com/ftUWKps7XJ
— Newstalk ZB (@NewstalkZB) January 13, 2016
Firefighters prioritised getting those people down from the mountain. Once they were successful they were then able to focus on the blaze.
Mr Waterreus would not comment further on the people rescued.
Mt Maunganui has been closed until further notice.
Tauranga City Council communications manager Aimee Driscoll said no one had been harmed in the "medium-sized" fire and there was no current risk to campers.
The fire has been contained but is not completely out with two helicopters with monsoon buckets dousing the fire, with a third on standby.
Tauranga City Council acting manager parks and recreation Warren Aitken said they hoped the fire would be out by this morning, and would then require a number of hours to dampen it down.
"Once the fire is fully extinguished we will need to assess the stability of the rocks to ensure they are safe before we open the area up to the public.
"We have cordoned off the area, closed road access and have security onsite. Can we please ask people, for their own safety, to stay way from the area until further notice," Mr Aitken said.
Each of the helicopters is able to carry 600 litres of water and each one is dropping massive buckets of water on the Mount every 60-90 seconds.
By 8am the helicopters have already dropped 53 buckets.
The 800-900sq m patch on the mount is still smoking but Mr Waterreus said the helicopters would work for another hour before ground crews would get on to the mount to tackle the fire by foot.
The fire broke out just before midnight and had been burning since.
It has destroyed vegetation on the northern side of the mountain.
Mr Waterreus earlier described tackling the mountain-top blaze as extremely dangerous and posing difficulties for firefighters.
"It's quite steep terrain up all sides of the mountain so we have to be very careful.
"It's obviously dangerous, night-time, steep ground and it's on fire. It's a very dangerous situation and we have to be careful."
He said the size of the fire and flames were quite impressive.
Thanks to favourable conditions the fire had been contained to a relatively small area.
The fire service would be conducting a full investigation.
In recent weeks, there has been a spate of arson attacks in the Tauranga and wider Bay of Plenty region, with several schools being targeted.
Last month, the fire service attended fires at three schools, including Merivale Primary School and Arataki School.
Radio New Zealand reported that an eyewitness had told police they saw what appeared to be either a lantern or a firework fall on to the mount.
Fire Service northern shift manager Scott Osmond said around eight fire crews were battling the fire.
"In that area it's very steep country and it's simply inaccessible. All we can do is try and contain it without it spreading too much," he said.
Jody McGinity, who is camping at Papamoa, said last night the fire could be seen from the campground, about 16km away from Mt Maunganui.
"We were just sitting having a drink and then we wondered what the light was," she said.
They then realised it was a blaze, and called the Fire Service.
"It's spread about half way down the right hand side [of the mount]," Ms McGinity said.
The large fire was spreading quickly, because of a strong breeze.
"It looks really bright."
Hamilton holidaymaker Jody McGinity, who is staying at a nearby campsite, said the mountain was looking ominous at daybreak.
"It looks dark on the top of the mountain this morning," she said.
