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Fire crews struggled to put out the bushfire along the highway near Waiouru on Friday.
One person has been arrested after a car accident sparked a bush fire on State Highway 1 in the Ruapehu district.
The brush fire, which had been extinguished at 6.30 p.m., started after a vehicle crashed into a power pole on the highway, south of Waiouru.
A police spokeswoman said around 4:20 p.m. a flat-bed utility vehicle crashed into a power pole about a kilometer south of the Waiouru rail bridge.
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Smoke from the fire spread across the road.
The vehicle had allegedly been stolen from an address in Taihape on Friday, but police were not pursuing it at the time of the accident, the spokeswoman said.
One person was arrested at the scene.
No one was injured as a result of the accident, but a bush fire ignited, forcing the road to close for about two hours.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand confirmed that the fire had been put out at 6.30pm. Waiouru, Taihape and Ohakune fire crews have been on fire.
The highway was reopened to one lane Friday night, under traffic control, and motorists have been told to expect lengthy delays.
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Smoke can be seen after an accident near Waiouru on Friday.
A motorist Things He spoke waited in traffic for about an hour and a half, with vehicles stopped in both directions, before the road partially reopened again around 6:20 p.m.
She said the queues of traffic in the southbound lane stretched between 3 and 4 km long.
