Hamilton fire: Commercial building in Te Rapa badly damaged

FENZ was called to a commercial building fire in Te Rapa, Hamilton, on December 17. Photo / Malisha Kumar

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is investigating a large fire in Hamilton on Sunday night.

Fire crews were called to the blaze at 10.50pm on December 17 in a commercial building in Te Rapa, Hamilton.

A spokesperson said, at its peak, nine trucks were used to fight the blaze, including one ladder truck.

Half of the 80m by 40m building was well involved in fire when the first crew arrived, the spokesperson said.

Appliances from Te Rapa, Hamilton, Chartwell and Ngāruawāhia fire stations were used.

A FENZ spokesperson, said half of the 80m x 40m building was well involved in fire when the first crew arrived at the scene. Photo / Malisha Kumar

“The fire was under control and hot spots were being dampened down by 1am, although crews did return during the day on Monday to dampen down further hot spots.

“An investigation into the cause of the fire is under way”, the spokesperson said.

The commercial building fire comes closely behind another large fire at a boat storage facility in Te Rapa, on December 13.

The storage building fire started about 5.30pm and caused a toxic smoke plume to drift over into suburbs east of the scene.

An emergency mobile alert was sent to Rototuna and Chartwell residents to warn them to stay inside with their windows and doors closed to avoid the smoke.

The warning had been lifted around 9pm after the fire had been confirmed as extinguished.

Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.

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