Appliances from the Whanganui Fire Brigade were called to the scene of a fire in Bulls.
Two buildings used for manufacturing honey were described as "fully involved with fire" on Edward St, just off State Highway 3 north of the Rangitikei town.
The Central Fire Communications Centre started receiving calls about the fire at 4pm on Saturday and units from Bulls and Marton were deployed.
Central Fire Communications Centre shift manager Mike Wanoa said the blaze took some time to get under control.
"We had a problem with access to water at the time because there was a problem with the water main in the area, so we had to respond with tankers from Marton initially," Wanoa said.
"About 40 minutes after that first arrival we had to upgrade the response to this fire, so we had two extra appliances from Halcombe and Rongotea in attendance with other support units from Whanganui."
Five appliances fought the fire in total, with the others standing by as operation support units. An ambulance was also called as a precaution.
"It seems that the fire was brought under control at 5.10pm. An hour after that they left the scene after checking with a thermal imaging camera for hotspots," Wanoa said.
"The building and the area were left in the hands of the owner."
Wanoa said they had endeavoured to find out the name of the business, but it did not appear on their mapping system.
The extent of the damage is not yet known.