Crews are responding to a scrub fire in Kūaotunu. Photo: Supplied
Firefighters will return to the Black Jack fireground near Kūaotunu on the Coromandel Peninsula on Wednesday to continue extinguishing the vegetation fire that began on Saturday.
Fire and Emergency's drone crew is due to carry out a second round of thermal imaging flights on Tuesday night, looking for new hotspots and checking the sites where crews and helicopters have been working since the morning.
Incident controller Shane Bromley said ground crews had dug out most of the deep-seated burning that was identified during flights on Monday night.
They had also found several new hotspots during their patrols on Tuesday.
"I would also like to remind people not to use drones in the area during the day when helicopters are flying.
"We often see people using drones in this popular area over summer, but while we have aircraft working on the fire we would like everyone to keep their drones on the ground. Otherwise, we have to stand our helicopters down for safety reasons."
The fire has burned an estimated nine hectares of vegetation on steep terrain along Black Jack Road.
It has been challenging for firefighters to work on the slopes in hot and windy conditions, Bromley added.
The fire is expected to take a few more days to extinguish fully.
The walking track in the area remains closed.
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