By Dan Satherley
Firefighters have quelled a large warehouse fire in the Auckland suburb of Avondale this evening.
The blaze broke out around 7pm in a small industrial complex on Great North Rd, across the street from the Hollywood Cinema at the Avondale shops.
Approximately 100 people gathered to watch the flames. Some had to be moved after gathering on the forecourt of a nearby Mobil service station.
The building where the fire began on fire was a disused one-storey warehouse. It spread to adjacent warehouses before the fire service arrived. They took over an hour to get the blaze under control.
At its height, smoke billowed into the sky, the plume visible from surrounding suburbs.
No one is known to have been seriously hurt, though one woman was reportedly taken away in an ambulance.
Traffic was backed up down Great North Rd heading towards New Lynn.
It is not known at this stage what has caused the fire. There are reports people were seen heading into the building earlier in the evening, and it is being treated as suspicious.
It took at least 11 appliances and over 30 firefighters to get it under control.
Photos by Tariqa Satherley.
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