A major fire at a central Auckland supermarket has been contained.
The fire at New World, Freemans Bay, left thick black smoke billowing over the city and was "well-involved" when Fire and Emergency (Fenz) crews arrived after being called at about 11.18am.
Fenz confirmed at 4.20pm today it was under control, and crews remained at the site dampening down hot spots.
Fire crews will remain on site overnight.
At the fire's peak about 80 firefighters and 20 fire trucks, including four ladder trucks, were on site — including a crew from Hamilton.
No-one was injured, although the building looked to have suffered significant damage.
Fenz said it was too early to say what started the fire.
The blaze was battled from the outside, as it was dangerous to enter.
However, once crews were able to enter the building, they were able to get the fire contained, incident controller Shaun Thornton said.
It burned through aisles of the supermarket, which Fenz said are now hotpots.
An ambulance and two rapid response teams were at the scene.
"Road closures remain in place, please continue to avoid the area," Thornton said.
"We are making progress removing cars from the carpark. If customers have a car in the New World carpark they are advised to see the Fire and Emergency New Zealand personnel at the cordon at the bottom end of Franklin Rd who are coordinating the retrieval of vehicles."
One shopper told RNZ she was in the vegetable section and had to abandon her trolley when the fire started.
"Everyone was evacuated very, very quickly," she said.
[My car] is in the bottom carpark. I am [worried about it], very, as a lot of people are. The carpark was full this morning."
A resident who lives nearby, Angela Goodwin, said her dad was a former employee of New World.
"He used to be a baker... it's upsetting because I know the staff here," she says.
"I had to come down and have a look, it's pretty bad. A lot of damage, so I'm not sure what's going to happen."
A demolition contractor working on site said there are refurbishments all around the building, RNZ reported.
The contractor, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he was working on the demolition of parts of the structure around the entrance of the supermarket. He said the fire did not start where he was working.
He was also aware of refurbishment work around the back of the building.
Another contractor, who was working at the back of the supermarket's second floor car park, said he saw smoke coming from the ceiling and heard someone shout "fire".
The refrigeration and air conditioning contractor, who did not want to be named, said him and his colleagues have been working on ducting around the ceiling of the carpark.
He said the work is part of the refurbishment project at the supermarket.
- APL / RNZ
