A campervan that caught on fire while it was being driven along a highway in Tasman has since been extinguished, authorities say.
A witness says the driver noticed the engine was on fire as they were driving along the Coastal Highway (SH60), in Upper Moutere, just before 1:30pm on Friday.
They pulled over quickly at the intersection with Westdale Rd after noticing thick, black smoke pouring out of the bonnet.
Police were made aware of the fire earlier, and traffic management was notified, a police spokesperson told Newshub.
Fire crews from Māpua and Appleby arrived about 10 minutes after they were alerted to the blaze, to a "well-engulfed" vehicle fire, a Fire and Emergency spokesperson told Newshub.
Crews extinguished the fire about 90 minutes after arriving.
The local council also responded to help clean up a "small amount of oil spilt on the road", the spokesperson said.
Local man Neville Kidd, who lives about 200m away from where the campervan fire broke out, told Newshub it belonged to a local man.
"He's Dutch, with family over from the US."
Kidd said the family was driving from Motueka, when they suddenly noticed smoke under the bonnet and pulled over.
"We heard a large explosion. Suddenly there was lots of black smoke in the air," he said.
"I presumed it was a house."
Kidd told Newshub it was a Ford Transit campervan - a 2005 model.
He said the man who owned the vehicle couldn't open the bonnet quickly enough to use an extinguisher.
"You need the keys, apparently."
Kidd also said a police officer, who didn't know about the campervan fire, had earlier pulled over a volunteer firefighter driving to the local fire brigade.
