An elderly woman was rescued from an apartment building in Auckland early this morning, after a fire at a ground floor cafe caused widespread smoke damage to the building.
Ocean Breeze apartments in Brown's Bay were evacuated shortly after 3.30am after a fire started in a cafe at he bottom of the building, said Fire Service spokesman Jarron Philips.
"There was a large amount of smoke in those apartments, and it was evacuated. One elderly lady was rescued from the second floor," he said.
A St John spokeswoman said an ambulance was sent to the scene to treat the woman, but did not transport her to hospital.
Mr Philips said crews quickly extinguished the fire, but were still at the scene ventilating the building.
Fire investigators were also on site determining what sparked the blaze.
