Port Hills fire likely to be a 'long-duration event'

Fire and Emergency region manager Brad Mosby said the Port Hills fire is likely to be a "long duration event".

Speaking at 3pm update, Mosby said even if the blaze was brought under control today, it would still take "days" to fully extinguish it.

He added there were 27 trucks, 14 helicopters with monsoon buckets and two planes laying retardant lines called into the fire this afternoon, which broke out shortly after 2pm yesterday.

The fire had grown by 20 hectares since this morning, and is now 650 ha, Mosby confirmed.

There were no reports of damage to houses and none were under threat currently.

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Earlier today, police also warned "disaster tourists" to stay away as emergency services continue to tackle a large blaze on Christchurch's Port Hills.

Meanwhile Fire and Emergency said today's priorities were strengthening containment lines and structure protection. Heavy machinery was on the ground helping with this process.

Crews had successfully put a firebreak in around Worsleys Spur to Dyers Pass Rd.

However, the fire had moved into the Christchurch Adventure Park and nearby farmers are moving stock.

There was no damage to infrastructure in the park currently.

At its 11am update, Fire and Emergency said the fire had crossed Summit Rd and planes were dropping retardant around Kennedy Bush and Summit Rd.

Other fires at Rolleston and Glentui in Waimakariri were contained.

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger earlier today told RNZ around 80 properties were evacuated overnight.

Inspector Ash Tabb said police were supporting Fire and Emergency and running evacuations. Cordons were in place to keep people safe and allow fire crews to operate safety.

"We encourage people to keep out of the way," he said.

"Disaster tourists, people who are going into the area to have a look, they are making it very hard for all those involved in the firefighting.

"This includes trying to get equipment in such as firefighting equipment or heavy earth-moving equipment — they're getting in the way of that by blocking roads.

"Also it includes those residents who are genuinely trying to get back to their houses to move stuff out and they can't get to their own houses or get away because of people blocking the roads, being sightseeing."

Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said this afternoon the response had been "world class".

Earlier today Breakfast's Daniel Faitaua spoke to Matt Prebble, who had to evacuate from his home overnight.

He said he was still "really unsure" about what is happening with his property.

"My biggest concern for me at the moment is my animals. That's a real concern there."

Prebble had a number of alpacas on his property and was worried because they get spooked by fire.

He said however, he was "confident" that crews will be able to get on top of the blaze.

For a lot of locals, the fire has brought back a lot of hard memories of the similarly massive fires in 2017.

"It's pretty raw for a lot of the neighbours, and there was a lot of reluctance for them to leave last night," Prebble said.

1News also spoke to Dan Cameron and Nadine Kirk, who run a farm right on the border of the fire.

They said they had done everything they could to prepare for another blaze – keeping their grass short.

They have moved their sheep as far away as possible from the incoming wildfire and are hoping the short grass slows it down.

"It's just too impractical to move them [sheep] out at this point," he said.

Cameron said the best thing farmers can do is "cross our fingers and hope the fire doesn't come too close".