The Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Northern Circuit are currently impacted and will remain closed tomorrow.<\/p>\n
A bush fire has engulfed 300ha of Tongariro National Park. Photo \/ Niamh Skogstad<\/p>\n
At this stage, the fire has not reached any tracks or huts, Coutts said.<\/p>\n
Fire and Emergency said if people are aware of friends or family who were planning to be on the Tongariro Crossing or the general area of SH47 and the Maungatepopo Hut, they should try to get in touch with them and confirm their whereabouts.<\/p>\n
If contact cannot be made they are advised to call 111 and tell the Police.<\/p>\n
State Highway 47 will stay closed between the intersections with SH48 and SH46 and no detour is available.<\/p>\n
Motorists are advised to avoid the area or delay travel until detours are available. <\/p>\n
\u201cCrews from six fire brigades plus a command unit are at the scene or on their way, and three helicopters with monsoon buckets are working, with a fourth being used for aerial observation,\u201d Fire and Emergency said in a statement.<\/p>\n
A no fly zone has been put in place covering the fireground and surrounding area, while Fire and Emergency said crews to tackle the flames will be on the ground at first light supported by six helicopters and two fixed wing aircraft.<\/p>\n
It is not yet known how the inferno started.<\/p>\n
Colin Baker, who owns and operates Ruapehu Scenic Shuttles, told the Herald the fire appears to be spreading quickly through the dense bush towards the Mangatepopo valley.<\/p>\n
Baker said he first saw the fire, which he described as being big at the time, around 3pm and alerted Fire and Emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was originally about 200 by 100 meters, kind of area and it just it\u2019s just expanded\u201d, he said, \u201cit was at the side of the road initially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker, who said he used to work in the fire brigade, described the blaze as concerning, \u201cit\u2019s going to be a really difficult one to get under control\u201d, he said, because of the dense bush and hot, windy conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last several days it has been really dry and the sun is so vicious this year […] now we\u2019ve got a big fire\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a worst nightmare fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fires crews continue to battle a fire in Tongariro National Park. Photo \/ Wendy Smit<\/p>\n
Wendy Smit, who hiked the Tongariro Crossing today said the fire is still raging hours after her group of 10 finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started at 8am and we finished about 4pm, and then we when we drove out, the fire had just started next to the road. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we saw about three fire trucks out, then went home to our lodge, had a shower, went for dinner, and it\u2019s just raging. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not stopping it\u2019s pretty scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
A witness said a group of 20 hikers had been rescued from the fire by helicopter. Photo \/ Wendy Smit<\/p>\n
Smit said she spoke to a group of 20 hikers who had been rescued by helicopter from the blaze this evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey showed us some photos and helicopter footage from their phones, and said it was just surreal, like they couldn\u2019t believe that they were being evacuated and that it was real. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when they had to turn around on the crossing, because they started at 4pm and they were planning on finishing at midnight, they got evacuated at 7pm. <\/p>\n
Fires continue to rage in Tongariro National Park. Photo \/ Wendy Smit<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could just see fires, you know, glowing in the distance and then they all got evacuated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smit told the Herald she could see at least 13 crews and multiple helicopters working on putting out the blaze, but feels it might not be under control soon so is preparing with her group to evacuate during the night if it continues to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no wind at least, like it\u2019s pretty calm, but it\u2019s like a glowing red cloud. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of looks like a volcano, but it\u2019s not, you know, it\u2019s the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Northern Circuit are currently impacted and will remain closed tomorrow. A bush fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[52404,86830,11727,682,14772,16651,48054,86829,2079,71,86827,3556,111,43,139,69,3111,86828,8143,46029,65860,102],"class_list":["post-124437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-52404","tag-400ha","tag-airlifted","tag-being","tag-burning","tag-bush","tag-crossing","tag-engulfed","tag-fire","tag-from","tag-hectares","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-outofcontrol","tag-park","tag-tongariro","tag-trampers","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}