The Labour Weekend fire badly damaged Kaikohe’s Z service station. Photo / supplied
The Labour Weekend fire badly damaged Kaikohe’s Z service station. Photo / supplied
Kaikohe's Z service station remains closed with as yet no estimated reopening date after it was badly damaged by fire during Labour Weekend.
The blaze started in a roof space about 2.30pm on Saturday and was fanned by strong winds, damaging the shop, storage areas and an estimated 80 percent of stock.
Volunteer firefighters managed to stop the flames before they spread to the fuel pumps, averting potential disaster.
Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said the first crew on the scene was confronted by a ''pretty intense'' blaze.
Locating the seat of the fire and accessing it was difficult due to thick smoke and the fact it started in a roof space filled with cables and ducts.
Mangakahia Rd was engulfed in smoke. Photo / supplied
Once the power had been disconnected and firefighters were able to get above the fire, pulling off roofing iron to vent the flames, they had it under control within 20 minutes.
The volunteers stayed more than four hours making sure it could not re-ignite in Saturday's strong winds.
While the fuel tanks had mechanisms to protect them from fire, Hutchinson said he was concerned that the fire was travelling along the side of the building where the tank vents were located.
"Any fire's bad, but a fire in a service station — that's on another level," he said.
"It was a really hard fire to put out. It was a pretty good effort by everybody considering the conditions and where the fire was."
Hutchinson praised staff for evacuating everyone immediately and calling 111.
The building structure was largely intact but he estimated 80 percent of shop stock had been smoke damaged.
The fire started in a roof space above a storeroom. Photo / supplied
Building owner John Maurice, of Kaikohe, said insurance assessors were continuing to examine the service station.
It was too early to say how long it would take to carry out repairs.
"I'd imagine Z would be pretty keen to get open again quickly," he said.
Maurice thanked the fire brigade for their efforts.
"There's smoke damage throughout the building — that's to be expected — but they did an excellent job in containing the fire. Where would we be without our volunteers?"
Fire investigator Gary Beer said he was unable to pinpoint a definitive cause but the fire was not suspicious.
A Z spokeswoman said an estimated reopening date would not be known until the end of this week at the earliest.
