Super yacht destroyed by 'fire within a fire'

Photo / File

Firefighters have spent more than 10 hours battling an intense blaze on a super yacht under construction in an east Auckland warehouse this morning.

Fire Service spokesman Jaron Phillips said emergency services were called to the McMullen & Wing boat building premises on Gabador Place, Mount Wellington, about 1.10am.

"It's a very large building - about 30m by 40m. When our fire crews first arrived the whole front of the building was already well involved in fire."

Up to 90 firefighters were involved in the operation, and about 60 remained at the scene this morning.

"They're still carrying out what's called an internal offensive fire attack inside this vessel, inside the building," Mr Phillips said.

Auckland Central Area Commander Kerry Gregory said the building fire had been extinguished, but firefighters still had the difficult task of accessing the flames inside the large vessel.

Firefighters had made their way on board.

"It's a fire within a fire so really access is a big problem for us. In confined spaces there's a real build-up of heat so we've got to make sure that it's safe for our firefighters to get in there.

"It's a hard job so there's lots of rotating of crews because they just come out exhausted."

It is yet to be determined where or how the fire started. A fire safety officer would investigate.