It is day 31 of the Waiharara fire in the Far North. The fire now covers 2530 hectares with a perimeter of 36km. The area of the fireground increased due to a break-out last Saturday.

Today we have 63 firefighters working on the fireground, supported by three bulldozers, three diggers and eight helicopters, plus a full incident management team.

Temperatures are expected to hit the high 20s again this afternoon, with winds from the south west, and low humidity. In these conditions we are prepared for more flare-ups and we have the resources available to deal with them.

Incident Controller Peter Clark says, "Our priorities today are creating new containment lines in the northern part of the fireground, strengthening the existing containment lines, and digging up and extinguishing hotspots."

An evacuation order was issued to three properties on Saturday when the fire escaped the containment lines due to the strong winds. Those three households remain under the evacuation order but we are providing managed access for the residents each day so they can look after their property.

We are working closely with Ngai Takoto and DOC as the whole area affected by the fire has great cultural and ecological significance.

It is too soon to put an end-date on firefighting operations as fires are still burning in vegetation above ground and in the peat underground. We still have a lot of work to do before we can hand the area back to tangata whenua and DOC. However, planning for the transition to recovery has already begun.

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