It was a co-ordinated effort by seven fire brigades and two helicopters that brought a fire on Mount Putauaki/Edgecumbe under control on Wednesday afternoon.

Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) were made aware of the fire, visible from Kawerau, shortly after 2pm.

Kawerau Fire Brigade station officer Nick Ryan, who acted as incident controller, said the terrain and strong winds were challenging in their efforts.

The brigade worked with advice from the Manulife Forest Management fire team, stationed near the base of the mountain, to determine how best to access the site.

Mr Ryan said the fire was relatively close to a mountain road, which helped get firefighters close to the blaze.

Second and third alarms were raised by ground crew, calling more resources to the scene.

FENZ reported six trucks and tankers worked from the ground to control the fire, which had grown to an estimated area of 100 metres by 200 metres by 3.40pm.

Mr Ryan said two helicopters were sent to the scene and were kept on standby because ground crews had the fire largely under control.

The surface fire was primarily pine needles and other natural materials, which meant it was not expected that a significant amount of damage had been caused to the trees.

By 4.30pm the fire was fully contained and urban brigades including Kawerau left the situation in the control of crews with more rural experience such as the Eastern Bay brigade and the Manulife team.

It is understood Manulife firefighters stayed on the mountain overnight patrolling the area and mopping up the rest of the fire.

Mr Ryan said with the Bay of Plenty in a restricted fire season, the brigade had been monitoring weather forecasts and knew to expect strong winds.

The wind was a concern for firefighters, who knew it could have played a role in causing the fire to flare again.

Mr Ryan attributes their success in bringing the fire under control relatively quickly to the hard work of the first crews to arrive, who worked in hot, windy and steep conditions.

He said the cause of the fire was under investigation and although it did not appear to be an uncontrolled burn, he urged people to observe the rules of the restricted fire season.

The Bay of Plenty moved into a restricted fire season earlier this month after a sharp increase in the number of fast-moving vegetation fires in the district, including 69 fires in November.

Anyone wanting to light an open-air fire must obtain a permit from checkitsalright.nz