12 Oct 2008

Fire damages Feilding business

10:56 pm on 12 October 2008

A fire has badly damaged an automotive parts business in central Feilding in Manawatu, with the Fire Service taking several hours to bring the blaze under control.

The building on Manchester Square houses Central Auto Parts and Equipment.

Central region shift manager Murray Dunbar says it took firefighters more than an hour to gain access to the building and the local council has been called over fears the building is not structurally sound.

Nine fire engines fought the blaze for most of Sunday evening, dumping water through the collapsed roof from aerial ladders mounted on fire trucks.

Mr Dunbar says the building is next to a nightclub which was razed by fire several months ago, and fire safety investigators will look at whether there is a common cause.

The Fire Service says a rural Hawke's Bay house was destroyed by a suspicious fire on Sunday evening.

No one was at home at the Waipunga Road property, northwest of Napier.

The Fire Service says neighbours raised the alarm just before 7pm.