Clean-up begins after Mitre 10 blaze

Firefighters battle huge flames and smoke at a Mitre 10 store in Onehunga last night. Photos / Dean Purcell / Supplied

Fire fighters are investigating the cause of a fire that saw workers run for their lives, and a city motorway closed during rush hour as fire gutted an Onehunga warehouse last night.

Health inspectors are to check the building, built in the 1960s, to see if it was safe for fire safety officers to go inside and begin the search for clues about the cause.

The Health Department would collect samples from the building, which was originally used to make jandals, fire safety officer Russell Dickson said.

A team of fire safety officers would be at the scene but would not go into the building unless it was safe.

"As far as the cause all bets are off. I am not about to speculate," he said.

Northern fire communications shift manager Megan Ruru said fire fighters were on stand-by overnight.

More than 80 firefighters in 20 fire engines battled the blaze, which left the Mitre 10 Home and Trade shop in Princes St a heap of timber and ash, and forced the evacuation of neighbouring factories.

The fire cut electricity to surrounding households and businesses but lines company spokeswoman - Phillipa White from Vector - said power had been restored to the area by 2.50am.

She said some areas are having their power supplied by generators because of extensive power damage to the network.

Ms White said at the height of the outage there were 579 customers affected.

The plume of smoke from the fire could be seen from as far away as the North Shore, and traffic to nearby Auckland International Airport was delayed up to 40 minutes.

The Southwestern Motorway - a major thoroughfare to the airport - was shut between 6pm and 7pm.

Firefighters were still struggling to control the blaze more than three hours after it started, and were expected to stay at the scene overnight.

Northern fire communications shift manager Jaron Phillips said the fire had spread to three adjacent buildings. The 50m x 30m warehouse was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

Reports of downed power lines, power lines on fire and transformers on fire were received from the surrounding area.

The chief fire officer at the scene, Larry Cocker, told TV3's Campbell Live programme the store was filled with tents, gas burners, camping gear and plastic tables.