The wind has subsided in Northland, allowing firefighters access to areas of a 200 hectare fire that’s now been burning for a week.

Incident controller John Sutton says people at Kellys Bay were able to go home last night after being earlier advised to evacuate as flames threatened their houses.

He says it’s now looking positive on the Pouto Peninsula, but crews will probably be around for a while yet. 

“Some of these hot spots are quite difficult to access. We’ve got to actually hand clear access into them.

“So I would think there’s still another 10 days of actual work here, but the intensity will slow down.”

– Newstalk ZB