Firefighters battle to put out Christchurch blaze

Photo / File photo

A major blaze at a vacant central Christchurch building could be suspicious, after a person was heard moving around inside the building before it went up in flames today.

Smoke from the fire can be seen across the city, but firefighters have now contained the blaze.

Fire crews were called to the commercial building on Welles Street, between Colombo and Manchester Streets just after 11am.

Andrews and Gilmore Panel and Paint is next to the building and the company's foreman Alec Brownlee told APNZ two staff members were working when the fire started.

The first they knew of the blaze was when they noticed flames "coming through the wall'', Mr Brownlee said.

The workers were able to get their customers' cars safely out of the building and neither of them suffered any injuries.

"There's a little bit of damage to our building but more of a big mess to clean up really.''

He said before the fire, one of the workers had said he had heard someone in the building.

"We'd heard people during the week in there.''

The fire service was not aware if anyone was in the building at the time of the fire.

Southern fire communications shift manager Karl Patterson said crews from eight appliances had controlled the blaze, but firefighters had been forced into "defensive mode'', which was to fight the fire from the outside.

The building was well alight by the time the crews arrived, Mr Patterson said.

It was understood the building was owned by the Christchurch City Council, but a spokeswoman was unable to confirm that this afternoon.