Hotspots continue continue to burn at the Matakana Island fire, but Fire and Emergency says its response has moved to a monitoring phase.

The fire, which started last Saturday, has burnt through about 41 hectares of scrub and pine slash.

The blaze sent plumes of black smoke over the skyline in western Bay of Plenty.

Bay of Plenty locals posted to social media pictures of the fire and smoke which were visible from nearby Tauranga.

Resident Leanne Swinburne witnessed the blaze at its brightest.

"You could clearly just see this big, raging, orange fire on the island."

"You could just see big black clouds of smoke."

She says nearby cars were covered in ash and some locals were getting respiratory issues.

Eighteen brigades from across the Bay of Plenty, Lake Taupō and Paeroa have worked to bring the fire under control.

Incident controller Jeff Maunder says the Matakana Island volunteer fire brigade would monitor the fire until it could be declared as extinguished.

There were plans in place to escalate the response if required.

RNZ