Firefighting has resumed this morning. Photo: Facebook / Hawke's Bay Fire and Emergency
The scrub fire near the Hawke's Bay village of Fernhill - between the township and the Ngaruroro River bridge - is almost fully out, Fire and Emergency says.
The blaze is fully contained and 95 percent extinguished, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Overnight, crews with a pump truck and a tanker monitored the site for any potential flareups.
Fire and Emergency said one crew with a tanker is monitoring the area today, extinguishing the last few remaining hotspots.
The blaze broke out near Hastings on Tuesday, leaving one person hospitalised and multiple buildings destroyed.
Three firefighters experienced heat exhaustion while working on the fire. Two were treated at the scene, and one was transferred to Hawke's Bay Hospital as a precaution.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is liaising with them and their families.
The fire also forced people living in and around the Farmhouse Lodge accommodation from their homes.
Fire and Emergency said it was still unclear when evacuated residents might be able to return home.
State Highway 50 at Fernhill reopened on Wednesday morning after it was closed due to the fire.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said the road is under stop-go traffic management near Omahu Road.
Motorists are being told to expect delays around the Fernhill area.
A firefighter extinguishing hotspots at the Fernhill fire on Tuesday. Photo: Supplied / FENZ
Fire and Emergency Assistant Commander Jason Hill told RNZ earlier today firefighting would resume this morning.
"Crews will be looking to bring the fire to a point where it's 100 percent controlled, so that means there is no chance of it burning outside of the containment lines, whether the wind picks up or not," he said.
"We still have multiple pockets of fire burning within the perimeter."
A fire investigator would also begin looking into the cause of the fire, Hill said.
He said two homes, multiple sheds and some machinery had been destroyed.
When crews arrived, flames fanned by strong winds were running up the hill, threatening multiple buildings, Hill said.
Firefighting efforts were hampered by gusts of up to 90 km/h, which meant they could not call on helicopters, leaving ground crews to tackle it.
Dawson Bliss, who owns Farmhouse Lodge, said the fire was burning on his property.
A tenant alerted him to smoke billowing up the hill and when he went to investigate, it appeared an old bus was on fire on flat land near the Ngaruroro river.
"I rushed down there and got close to it and had extinguishers and so forth, but it was just too ablaze to try and get close enough," he said.
Bliss did not know when he and his tenants would be able to return to the property.
On Tuesday he told RNZ he was feeling okay, but "later on it might be worse, when we take stock of the situation".
Fire and Emergency said Civil Defence had helped evacuees to find a place to stay overnight.
Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said it was distressing for those impacted by the fire - and it was a stark reminder of how dangerous the region's hot, windy summers could be.
Schollum and Hill urged people to take fire bans seriously.
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