A farmer ploughing his field yesterday afternoon allegedly sparked the massive scrub fire rampaging across the Nelson and Tasman regions.
Helicopters are attacking the 1870ha fire, spread across 20km, from the air as Civil Defence declares a state of emergency and more than 170 homes have been evacuated or self-evacuated.
The fire was sparked by a farmer discing his dry fields at around 2pm up Pigeon Valley near Wakefield, about 30kms south of Nelson, at around 2pm yesterday, the Herald has been told by multiple sources.
"Within five minutes, the whole side of the field had gone up in flames," one local said.
The Civil Defence said ground crews and helicopters are also fighting a second fire which has started at Rabbit Island (Moturoa) and have asked people to leave this area and the area of Rough Island.
Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi said the Tasman blaze was a local state of emergency and 170 properties had been evacuated.
Within that, the early number was that two houses had been damaged, he said.
West Coast MP Damien O'Connor said it was a real credit to emergency services that nobody had been injured.
However, there had been some animal welfare issues and 13 animals had to be euthanised.
Ministry for Primary Industries were on the ground to help residents, he said.
Faafoi wanted to thank Fire and Emergency NZ for their massive effort in battling the fire.
"It's obviously a very big fire... we are obviously going to be watching it very closely...
"Hats off the FENZ for their effort over the past 24 hours."
By last night, the fire had spread over hundreds of hectares, causing residents to flee northern valleys, Redwood Valley and Eves Valley.
