Security camera captures flaming arsonists fleeing burning barbershop One Two Uppercuts

• Security footage has captured alleged arsonists stumbling out of a South Auckland barbershop engulfed in flames.
• This is the second time the shop, One Two Uppercuts, has been targeted this year.
• The fire is being treated as suspicious and is under investigation.

Three alleged arsonists set themselves on fire during a break-in at a South Auckland barbershop.

In a video taken from a nearby security camera, three people are shown running from One Two Uppercuts, two completely engulfed in flames.

The group stumble out one at a time, falling to the ground as they try to extinguish their burning clothes.

In a post on Instagram the store’s owner wrote: “These idiots burnt our shop and burnt themselves”.

A spokesperson for the business said it was “disheartening” losing everything they had “worked so hard to build”.

“Also a certain anxiety for the future of our store but we’re getting back up for all of those that ever pursued a dream and refuse to give up.”

They are unsure of when they will reopen but are “certain” they will be back.

Police say they are investigating the suspicious fire at the shop on Harris Rd, East Tamaki on Saturday.

“About 4.05am, a passerby reported smoke coming from a premises between Allens Rd and Crooks Rd,” a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said nobody was in the salon and no one has been reported injured.

Fire and Emergency NZ said the blaze was “well-involved” when they arrived.

A nearby shop worker said police had cordoned off the access road with the Harris Rd block of shops and directed her to use a different way to get to her store.

One Two Upper Cuts’ website says: “From the ashes we will rise”. The message came after its other salon on Weymouth Rd, Manurewa, was burnt down in January in what was described at the time as a suspicious fire.

Photos from that blaze showed the inside of the Manurewa shop gutted by fire. Charred chairs and blackened counters were all that remained of the business, while the footpath and road were strewn with debris.

The scene of an earlier fire in which the footpath and road outside the block of shops were strewn with debris. Photo / Hayden Woodward

The neighbouring shops, a food bar and a laundromat, were also damaged. Nobody was hurt in the incident, police said.

The owners set up a Givealittle page that raised just over $9000 after the first fire.

“What once was a hub for our community, and a special space to us has now been burnt down to the ground,” the page stated.

“But from the ashes we will rise and from the ruins we will rebuild.

“Sadly our shop is not covered by insurance, and it burdens us to ask for help, but if your (sic) in the position to give, anything will help and we’ll be eternally grateful.”

Last week, molotov cocktails were lobbed inside another Auckland barber shop, sparking a fire that destroyed the premises, the building’s manager claimed.

The fire, which broke out at 2.44am in Bentleys Barbers in Royal Oak, is being treated as arson.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.