Fire contained in central Wellington

File photo / NZ Herald

A fire in the Ministry of Social Development building this morning has been extinguished.

Fire crews were called to the Bowen State building on Bowen Street about 7.30am, station officer Brent Pritchard told NZPA.

The second floor was engulfed in smoke when fire officers arrived.

"It seems a light fitting above a storage locker has overheated and dropped down on to the locker," he said.

The fire was quickly extinguished but the smoke triggered a heat detector in the building.

About three quarters of the floor was smoke damaged, Mr Pritchard said.

- NZPA