Hawke's Bay fire: Firefighters contain forest blaze after two-day effort

Fire crews in Hawke's Bay have been battling a large blaze of their own as Australia's bushfires continue to ravage the country.

On Monday, a large fire broke out north of Napier, spreading across 350 hectares of pine forest near Tangoio Settlement Road.

"It moved through quite quickly... it's still going to affect maybe about 50 percent of the crop," volunteer firefighter and forestry contractor Ron Middleton told Newshub.

Both air and ground crews have spent two days battling the blaze.

Seventy firefighters have fought the flames, alongside eight helicopters armed with monsoon buckets and two planes distributing retardant. 

Bulldozers have been building containment lines, but crews say the fight is far from over.

"There are still areas within the perimeter of the fire that are burning quite actively... and it's going to take quite a few days to really get into the middle of it and extinguish it," a Fire and Emergency (FENZ) firefighter told Newshub.

While the cause of the blaze remains unclear, heavy winds have continued to keep it alive.

Dangerous conditions forced fire crews to pull back last night, a flare-up threatening one nearby property. 

"The winds were right up... 120 km/h... you shouldn't be in those conditions if you're trying to fight a fire," Middleton explained.

Some campers at Waipatiki Beach Holiday Park were worried they could end up in the path of the flames. 

"A couple of them showed a bit of concern initially with what was going on, because you can't see it from here or how bad it was," said the holiday park's owner.

The smoke from the blaze forced one child with asthma to leave the camp, and power was cut to the park last night. 

Fire crews say they've now managed to contain the blaze, leaving the happy campers safe for another day.