It was a stroke of luck when a fire safety officer drove past a Moerewa business that was about to go up in flames.
A smoker caught fire at the back of a Moerewa butchery after 4pm Thursday when fire safety officer Gary Beer drove past and noticed black smoke.
He pulled in behind the business and saw the owner attempting to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose, and so called the Kawakawa Fire station for back-up.
"I wasn't sure exactly what was on fire because of all the smoke," Mr Beer said.
The owner had been in the process of smoking meat when the smoker unit caught fire while he was serving a customer. It was hard against the back wall of the business and had the potential to spread.