With the Tasman wildfire still not under control, the New Zealand Defence Force has joined emergency services to help battle the blaze.
The devastating fire, which began on Tuesday, covers 1900 hectares with a 22 kilometre perimeter.
Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne spoke with TVNZ1's Breakfast today and said they are hopeful emergency services will get the fire under control, but they did not know when that would happen.
"The reality is, we can't answer that," he said.
1 NEWS’ Kim Baker Wilson with the latest from Tasman, where dozens of people are fighting the fire. (Source: Other)
"The agencies are doing everything they can to first of all control the fire and keep people safe and then to have people going home."
Mr Kempthorne said today's efforts will be a continuation of yesterday.
"There is a big area to cover and a lot of work to do," he said.
Mr Kempthorne said there is a significant amount of smoke still, as well as fire spots - although less than yesterday.
1 NEWS’ Kim Baker Wilson spoke to residents forced to escape the fire’s path. (Source: Other)
A 1 News reporter at the scene says the blaze is still fierce in the Nelson-Tasman region. (Source: Other)
“The fire service are looking at where do they need to focus the crews that they’ve got to have best effect,” he said.
In terms of resources and crew, he said they were well-supported with a lot of local crew as well as the Department of Conservation and the NZ Defence Force joining the efforts.
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