Good save as fire battled at Napier restaurant The Lucky Inn

Fire crews retreat after extinguishing the fire which had spread into the roof. Photo / Doug Laing

A busy central Napier street was closed to through traffic for much of this afternoon after a restaurant kitchen fire.

Fire and Emergency received about 15 calls just after 2pm as smoke billowed from The Lucky Inn, a larger-format, single-level banquet-style Asian restaurant and takeaway business backing on to a BP service station and adjoining Spark Business Hawke's Bay off Carlyle St, a few hundred metres from the CBD.

A wall separated the restaurant and the service station but firefighters were quick to stop any spread of the fire.

There were thought to be no customers in the restaurant and only owners or staff on the premises, and there were no reports of injuries.

With crews still at the scene an hour and a half later, Hawke's Bay fire area assistant commander Glen Varcoe said the emergency had gone to a second alarm, with three crews from Napier being soon joined by two other crews. Appliances included a Bronto truck with extended ladder and platform to enable safe access to the roof, with the fire having spread to the ceiling.

While there was little visible indication from the exterior and it was "a good save" in preventing the fire from spreading, Varcoe believed there would have been structural damage which would take time to repair.

"It's not good in this environment, with the Covid crisis, and just starting to get back into business again," he said.

The blaze was regarded as accidental, he said, but investigators would be inspecting the building and the damage.