A diamond-tipped chainsaw was used to pierce a hole in the copper cap on the clock tower of Whangārei's Old Town Hall so all traces of a devastating fire could be extinguished.
Hours after the fire on the second floor of the historic 107-year-old building on Bank St was doused, firefighters used a special fire appliance from Auckland's Parnell station equipped with an aerial basket on the end of a extendible ladder, to access the clock tower.
The alarm was raised about 12.45pm on Thursday and everyone in the building was evacuated. It didn't take long before a wall of white smoke made it almost impossible to see anything on the central city street.
The fire quickly took hold of much of the second floor, spreading through the roof and destroying the landmark clock tower.