Pukekohe packing shed fire: Crews keeping an eye on hotspots, onions, pallets

Firefighters tackle the blaze in Pukekohe. Photo / Adrian Heritage

Firefighters are staying at the scene of a packing shed fire in rural south Auckland’s market gardening district this morning.

The fire broke out yesterday but was contained within a few hours.

“Overnight we’ve had a crew standing by, monitoring the hotspots,” said Josh Pennefather, Northern Fire Communications shift manager.

“The packing house is full of onions and pallets,” he added.

“We’ve got to fully extinguish the fire.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) said it received multiple calls to the building on fire at Blake Rd at 5.09pm on Tuesday.

The scene is close to the Auckland-Waikato border in an area of high-quality agricultural land and intensive onion and vegetable farming.

The fire was contained by 7.30pm.

Crews from multiple Auckland stations attended.