Police at the scene following a suspicious blaze at One Two Upper Cuts on East Tamaki Road overnight. Photo / Hayden Woodward
An Auckland barber shop has been badly damaged by an overnight fire, just months after its last salon was burnt down.
Police say they are investigating the suspicious fire at the One Two Upper Cuts barber shop on Harris Rd, East Tamaki.
“About 4.05am, a passerby reported smoke coming from a premises between Allens Rd and Crooks Rd,” a police spokesman said.
“Police were alerted about 4.15am. The property suffered significant damage.”
The spokesman said nobody was in the salon and no one has been reported injured.
However, the area has been cordoned off and a scene guard is in place, he said.
“Inquiries into the fire are ongoing.”
Fire and Emergency NZ said the blaze was “well-involved” when they arrived.
A nearby shop worker said police had cordoned off the access road with the Harris Rd block of shops and directed her to use a different way to get to her store.
She confirmed the fire had been at the barber shop and said about two police cars and some fire trucks were still at the scene.
One Two Upper Cuts’ website says: “From the ashes we will rise”. The message came after its other salon on Weymouth Rd, Manurewa, was burnt down in January in what was described at the time as a suspicious fire.
Photos from that blaze showed the inside of the Manurewa shop gutted by fire. Charred chairs and blackened counters were all that remainedd of the business, while the footpath and road were strewn with debris.
The neighbouring shops, a food bar and a laundromat, were also damaged. Nobody was hurt in the incident, police said.
The owners set up a Givealittle page after the first fire that raised just over $9000.
“What once was a hub for our community, and a special space to us has now been burnt down to the ground,” the page stated.
“But from the ashes we will rise and from the ruins we will rebuild.
“Sadly our shop is not covered by insurance, and it burdens us to ask for help, but if your (sic) in the position to give, anything will help and we’ll be eternally grateful.”
On Wednesday, molotov cocktails were lobbed inside another Auckland barber shop, sparking a fire that destroyed the premises, the building’s manager claimed.
The fire, which broke out at 2.44am in Bentleys Barbers in Royal Oak, is being treated as arson.
The Government wants to keep operating them for another year.