Firefighter injured in Wairoa shop blaze

The fire service is investigating the blaze at the Wairoa building.File photo / Brett Phibbs

A firefighter suffered burns from an electric shock in a blaze that all but destroyed a shop in Wairoa early this morning.

Emergency services were called to the fire in the first floor flat above a hardware store on Marine Parade about 12.40am.

A 43-year-old firefighter was taken to Wairoa Hospital with burns to his back from an electric shock, an ambulance spokesman said.

A man at the block of shops was also taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Fire Service central communications shift manager Murray Dunbar said the man was outside the shops when firefighters arrived and did not need to be rescued.

He said the building was severely damaged.

"The top floor has been totally destroyed and the ground floor shops have been severely damaged by water,'' he said.

Four fire crews managed to contain the fire to the building, which was right in the middle of a block of shops.

"It seems like they did some fairly good work in stopping it, containing it to the flat where it originated.''

A fire safety investigator would try to establish the cause of the blaze this morning.