A fire that spread to 20 storage units at a building in East Tamaki in Auckland has been contained, firefighters say.
Units at the storage site have sustained significant damage, Fire and Emergency says. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
The fire started just before 1am and quickly spread to the 65m by 15m storage unit building on Harris Road. About two-thirds of the building was alight by about 5.30am.
Firefighters had to break through an electric fence and into locked storage units to battle the blaze.
More than 70 people, including support services, worked through the night to bring the fire under control.
Incident controller Chris Delfos said breaking into the premises was slow going, but they had managed to contain the blaze.
He said there was some speculation the fire started in a car parked next to the units, but that was yet to be confirmed.
Fire and Emergency NZ at the scene of the blaze. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
Mr Delfos said crews were now pulling the contents of the units out - to check whether the fire was still burning underneath boxes, or in the structure of the building.
The units had sustained significant damage, Fire and Emergency said.
A nearby shop worker said the fire appeared to have died down. He said there was a little smoke rising from the units and it had started raining.
The general manager of the site, SafeStore, said the fire was contained to just one of the smaller storage blocks.
Aron Alsweiler said he was waiting to hear back from fire investigators about the fire's cause.
Police cordons at the site were removed, and the fire was not expected to disrupt morning traffic.
A fire investigator was expected to visit the scene this morning.
Fire and Emergency Assistant Area Commander for Counties Manukau, Craig Monrad, said he was hopeful the cause of the fire could be determined within the next few hours.
