Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Firefighters will remain on the scene on Tuesday after a large vegetation fire broke out near Porirua.
The seven hectare fire was reported Monday afternoon at Cannons Creek, burning through light scrub, gorse, and some native vegetation, forcing the evacuation of two neighbouring schools.
Crews remained on standby overnight, monitoring for hotspots after firefighters contained the blaze.
Incident controller Matthew Franklin said specialist rural crews will today continue work to extinguish the fire.
On Monday incident controller Craig Cottrill said a fire investigator would visit the scene today.
"It's probable that it may have been started by somebody down the back of the college up to something with some form of ignition," Cottrill said.