A "spectacular" fire in Christchurch on Wednesday night has caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to power cables, says electricity company Orion.
Contractors were carrying out cable repairs in Foster St, Addington, when the fire started about 10.40pm.
Several gas bottles being used for the repairs exploded
and flames were above the height of adjacent Towers Junction shopping complex.
This resulted in initial that the fire was at the BBQ Factory store.
The blaze cut power to about 10,000 customers in the area for 2-1/2 hours.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage had been caused to the two cables and work had been set back by up to a month, Orion operations manager Stuart Kilduff said.
Initial inquiries have failed to determine why the fire started.
Christchurch Fire Service assistant area commander Dave Burford told NZPA the blaze was "big and spectacular but not big in area".
He said 18 firefighters were faced with "an inferno" when they arrived at the scene and had to wait while power was cut to a 66,000-volt underground cable.
Fire safety officers are still investigating the cause of the blaze, along with the Department of Labour.
- NZPA
