Penrose plumbing store fire: Crews are treating the blaze as unexplained

Fire crews have battled a blaze in an Auckland plumbing shop overnight, with investigators treating the incident as unexplained.

The fire took place at a plumbing supplies store on Fairfax Ave in Penrose at about 3.40am today, Fire and Emergency NZ said.

Around 15 fire trucks rushed to the scene at the height of the fire, Assistant Commander Gary Lane said.

Starting in a storage area in the rear of the 8m by 15m building, the fire flared up so much crews had to change how they were fighting the blaze, Lane said.

“Once part of the roof collapsed, we withdrew our crews and started fighting it externally, he said.

”Two ladder appliances were utilized to fight the blaze.”

The fire had now been brought under control with crews earlier this morning finishing the “mop-up phase”.

A fire investigator has already visited the scene and will return today during daylight hours to continue to look into what happened.

“The fire is being treated as unexplained at this time,” Lane said.