Firefighters are continuing to tackle an enormous fire on Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty.
The 37-hectare vegetation fire has been burning in scrub and forestry slash since Saturday night.
The fire was contained on Sunday night, and firefighters worked through the night, supported by heavy machinery to consolidate the firebreaks.
Incident Controller Jeff Maunder said work would continue to reinforce the containment lines on Monday, with three helicopters equipped with monsoon buckets and an excavator supporting over 30 firefighters.
"The fire is 100 percent contained but there are some weak points we are working on," he said.
"We are also identifying dangerous trees and making them safe and continuing to push the fire away from the containment lines. It's a reasonably long and arduous task, dealing with deep-seated fires in heavy fuels."
Come Monday night, FENZ said it will be using drones with infrared equipment to identify hotspots that will be targeted in Tuesday's firefighting.
An investigation into the fire has begun.
It comes after a large fire also broke out on the island in December 2020, taking firefighters more than a week to extinguish.
