A pair of Syrian brothers who came to New Zealand 20 years ago to start a new life have been left devastated after their Lebanese grocery store went up in flames.
The large fire broke out at the much-loved Pita House shop on Cortina Place in the East Auckland suburb of Pakuranga just as firefighters went on strike for an hour between 12 and 1 today.
Flames and black smoke from the building, next to the Pakuranga Highway, could be seen billowing across eastern suburbs.
A man was seen being wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher at the scene. Hato Hone St John said one patient was in a serious condition and was being transported to Middlemore Hospital.
A bulldozer is now on site, demolishing parts of the scorched building.
The Pita House is a well-known fixture with Pakuranga locals. It’s owned by brothers from the Hatem family, who arrived here from Syria more than 20 years ago, hoping to start a new life.
Ahmed Reynolds-Hatem said the business was his father and uncles’ life’s work, and the fire was “devastating”.
As firefighters worked to douse the blaze, a saddened Reynolds-Hatem talked to the Herald about what the business had meant to his family.
“It’s been 20 years, and they’re a bunch of workaholics. They all wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning … 12 hours a day for 20 years, seven days a week.
“They came to this country with nothing.”
Reynolds-Hatem said they had been providing Middle Eastern foods and recipes shared by his own grandfather for locals for almost two decades.
The brothers had worked hard to establish their families in New Zealand.
“They’ve built everything they can with what they had.”
Reynolds-Hatem said he had been down the road picking up supplies for the shop when he got a frantic phone call from his mother.
“She was saying: ‘Son, are you all right?’”
She told him there was a fire at the store, and he rushed back. He said his father had been there at the time.
“I parked my car on the other side of the street and just sprinted here as fast as I can to make sure my father was all right – as well as the rest of our beloved staff.”
Speaking about his dad, Reynolds-Hatem said: “He’s devastated, of course – life’s work gone up in flames.
“But my family are strong and they will always carry on.”
The cause of the blaze is not yet known.
A cordon was put in place on neighbouring Reeves Rd, blocking access to the area.
The fire came as members of the NZ Professional Firefighters Union stopped work.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said it was alerted to the fire at a commercial property at 12.07pm.
The fire is “well-involved” and is threatening a neighbouring property.
On its offical Facebook page, Fire and Emergency said that because of the strike, it took 30 minutes for volunteer crews to travel to the scene. Usually, it would take only seven minutes from the station closest to Cortina Place.
Fire and Emergency slammed the union, saying it was “gambling with the public’s safety”.
The union said it was “disgusting” that Fire and Emergency was “throwing stones at a moment when, obviously, the building is still on fire”.
A man trying to catch a bus, who wished to remain anonymous, said that at 12.40pm, the firefighters had not yet started battling the fire and were still setting up the hose.
The roof of the building was completely engulfed in flames.
He said the smoke was “thick and black” and pouring into the sky and covering all the buildings behind the fire.
He said the building did not look as if it would collapse, but the roof was “absolutely covered” in flames, which were clearly visible from 50m away from the fire.
Initially, at least two police cars and an ambulance were also on the scene.
Initially, just two fire trucks were at the scene, from the Clevedon Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Towards the end of the strike hour, multiple fire crews from across Auckland and Waikato joined in to fight the fire, including crews from Laingholm, Patumahoe, Waitākere, Pukekohe, Pōkeno and Beachlands.
Hato Hone St John confirmed it wascalled to the fire at 12.16pm. An ambulance, a rapid response unit and an operations manager attended, a spokeswoman said.
Police said Fire and Emergency was the lead agency for the fire.
Motorists travelling on the highway are starting to encounter challenging driving conditions as the smoke pours across the road.
An Auckland Transport alert told bus passengers that routes 711 and 70 will be detoured.
“Route 711 (outbound) will detour through Pakuranga Rd, Lewis Rd and Reeves Rd,” it said.
The bus would not stop at stop 6132 (Reeves Rd/Ti Rakau Drive) or stop 1972 (William Roberts Rd). Route 70, inbound and outbound, would not be stopping at stop 6127 (Palm Ave/Pakuranga Plaza), stop 6129 (Ti Rakaua Drive), stop 6131 (Marriot Rd) or 6133 (Edgewater Drive). It would be detouring through Gossamer Drive.
The northern fire communications office was running a voicemail message informing of the industrial action.
Fire and Emergency wrote on its official Facebook page that it took 30 minutes for the nearest volunteer crews to travel to the blaze.
“This is exactly why we have been calling on the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union to call off these strikes while we are in the process of facilitation with the Employee Relations Authority.
“We previously sought to establish a process to which we can call in NZPFU members if there was a large-scale incident, but were rebuffed.
“By going on strike and rejecting calls to set up a process to respond to more serious incidents, the NZPFU are gambling with the public’s safety.”
Deputy national commander Megan Stiffler added that the nearest paid firefighter station is in Mt Wellington. Crew from there arrived at the scene within four minutes of the strike’s end.
“As a career firefighter, I am appalled to see the NZPFU use someone’s tragedy as a punch line.
“I want to thank our 11,800 volunteers across the country, and their employers, for supporting them to respond over today’s strike hour.
“I would also like to thank our operational commanders and communication centre managers, who contributed to the response.
“We again urge the NZPFU to call off planned one-hour strikes at 12pm on 16 and 23 January.”
NZPFU vice-president Martin Campbell said the Fire and Emergency Facebook post was “disgusting”.
“To be frank, it’s incredibly disappointing that Fire and Emergency are blaming firefighters and 111 emergency dispatchers for their failures to actually present a fair and reasonable offer for over almost two years now to the membership – and has allowed the situation to drag on to the state that, unfortunately, today’s terrible event has occurred,” he said.
“We’re incredibly thankful that it looks like nobody has been hurt or injured, but it’s definitely not a situation that firefighters [wanted] ... to happen.”
Campbell said the post being published on social media was “tragic”.
“I think it’s a little bit disgusting, to be perfectly honest, that they’re throwing stones at a moment when, obviously, the building is still on fire,” he said.
“It’s still being extinguished – our crews are actually now at the fire ... along with the volunteer crews.
“It’s ... actually quite tragic that they’re trying to lay blame for their failures and the chief executive’s and the board’s failures to run the organisation properly.”
Campbell said the situation should be “a wake-up call” to Fire and Emergency.
“It just goes to show the public that fire is incredibly fast, and this highlights how incredibly important it is to have a properly funded and resourced fire and emergency service, especially in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, with 1.6 million people,” he told the Herald.
“It’s important that the organisation takes on board their past failures, and not properly resourcing the organisation, not supplying enough firefighters, not supplying working fire trucks or equipment that works properly.
“Hopefully, this will be a wake-up to the organisation – and maybe it will be a wake-up to the Government right now [to] start thinking that maybe now they need to start getting involved.”
Campbell confirmed that firefighters were sent to the blaze as soon as the strike finished at 1pm.
“As soon as the strike finished, they jumped in their trucks and raced straight over to the fire,” he confirmed.
“I’m actually working at the Auckland Central Fire Station, and I told [Fire and Emergency] that the high-reach aerial truck – which normally would have responded – was available.
“But the fire commanders on scene didn’t want that fire truck to respond … during the strike – even though it normally would have responded. That does seem rather bizarre.”
Fire and Emergency received calls for 22 incidents between 12pm and 1pm today – the eighth time the union has taken strike action.
Of these, 12 incidents were in areas affected by the strike, Fire and Emergency said.
Of these, five were fire alarms that did not result in a fire. There were three notifications of fire by members of the public that did not result in a fire, and one request from police for assistance that did not require attendance.
One was a small shed fire that was extinguished by the owner, before volunteer crews arrived to ensure the fire was out. Another was a burn pile that was being safely managed by the landowner.
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