Firefighters, helicopters enter second day of battling massive Northland wild fire

A massive scrub fire is still burning out of control in Northland as fire crews prepare to resume tackling the blaze at first light.

The fire, which is raging through scrub in a reserve west of Whangarei, has now spread to more than 30ha, doubling in size since it broke out yesterday afternoon.

Fire and Emergency says the blaze is burning on two fronts. Only one has been contained and a 400m long fire front was left to burn out of control throughout the night.

Deputy principal rural fire officer Mike Champtaloup said firefighters would return to battle the fire at 6.30am.

Nearly three dozen firefighters and six helicopters would be back on duty to extinguish the blaze that had already claimed an extensive section of reserve land at Titoki.

A fire safety investigator was expected to start working out today what sparked the destructive blaze.

Fire crews stopped fighting the blaze at 10pm after the fire had been burning seven hours.

Champtaloup said the fire was not threatening homes or production sites.

Yesterday residents described seeing massive plumes of brown smoke billowing from the reserve.

Helicopters and ground crews protected buildings initially threatened by the raging fire.