White Island is currently erupting, the alert sitting at level four.
Photos and videos of the eruption show plumes of thick smoke and white steam billowing from the volcano.
A local resident who can see White Island from his deck says it looks "spectacular".
"There's a lot more steam than normal, I don't know if it is a full eruption, but it looks pretty spectacular," Don Richards told Newshub.
The volcano, located off the coast of the Bay of Plenty, started erupting at 2:15pm on Monday. Reports say a number of people were on the island at the time and several have been injured.
