Dozens of residents forced out of their homes by a large fire near Mahia on the East Coast have been told it is safe to return home.
More than 70 people evacuated from their homes spent two nights in the Opoutama school or with friends.
Department of Conservation spokesperson Mike Jones said some residents have already arranged for insurance companies to inspect their properties.
Mr Jones said the area is still smouldering and it may take up to three weeks to fully extinguish the fire.
About 60 firefighters continued working at the scene on Tuesday, concentrating on the northern part of the fire.
Incident controller John Sutton said crews were using infra-red cameras to identify underground hotspots, and helicopters remained on standby.
Gisborne mayor Meng Foon was setting up an emergency fund for Mahia residents who lost uninsured property because of a large forest and scrub fire.
Mr Foon said a number of people in Gisborne own property in Mahia and hove a strong connection to the area.
Fire contained
On Monday night, firefighters managed to contain the blaze that had burnt 140 hectares of land since it began on Sunday afternoon.
An investigator has started working to identify what started the fire. Mr Sutton said the location where the blaze began has been established, and local residents are being interviewed.
The fire began about 4pm on Sunday near Mahia Beach before spreading to nearby pine trees.
Eight buildings have been destroyed. There have been no reports of anyone being injured.
By Monday afternoon, about 100 firefighters from Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, Gisborne and Rotorua had controlled 95% of the blaze centred near the community of Opoutama.
They were helped by four helicopters with monsoon buckets, along with two bulldozers and three excavators.
Spectacular sight - eyewitness
Eyewitness Jocelyn Zame described the blaze as a spectacular sight with smoke pouring into the sky and flames licking up trees.
Ms Zame, who owns the Mahia Beach Motels and Holiday Park located about 3km from the fire, said the blaze grew quickly.
"We could hear all the crackling and popping going on from the first collection of buildings, that we found out later belonged to a church group, then ... bursts of flames would pour up."
She said the first helicopters turned up five minutes later.
The flames were fanned on Sunday by northerly winds and temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius.
