Fire and Emergency staff from across the region were called to a significant fire in Marton on Thursday night.
Crews arrived to a well-involved fire at a panel and paint shop on Broadway just after 10pm.
Two appliances from Bulls, two from Whanganui, two from Marton and one from Halcombe were needed to fight the blaze.
Two buildings were gutted with several vehicles inside also being destroyed.
The roof of another nearby building was also damaged.
The last crews left the scene just after 4am Friday.
A St John spokesperson said one person was transported to Whanganui Hospital with minor injuries.
Mik Rangi, who lives next door to the gutted building, said he was in bed when he noticed a glow but the fire had not taken over the building when he first saw it.
Despite the size of the blaze, Rangi said he wasn't really concerned with it igniting his house.
"I left it up to [Fire and Emergency], they stayed on my side and watered it down and had someone up a crane," he said.
"There's a lot of damage but that comes with an inferno like that.
"It's bad; you don't see these fires often, only in Auckland and not next door."
Rangi said he'll leave parts of the damaged building which had fallen on his property in place until the fire investigator had completed their work.