Auckland CBD resident describes 'terrifying' fire at neighbour's apartment

The bottom two floors have been completely destroyed with some damage to the apartment above. Photo / Hayden Woodward

An Auckland resident has described the terror of seeing flames melting his neighbour's apartment and destroying everything in its path.

Wayne Bridge-Smith, 65, was lying in bed in his Freeman's Bay apartment early this morning when he started to hear glass smashing through the wall that separated him from his next door neighbour's two-storey apartment.

"I opened my curtain and could see flames three stories high up to the roof, my god ... then it just erupted and the flames were about three and half metres out in the garden and up to the apartment above.

"The apartment above is completely melted, everything is just gone."

The blaze at the Hayden St four-storey Freeman's Bay apartment building broke out before 5.58am, when emergency services were called.

"The fire department arrived so fast, my goodness they are fantastic guys. I don't know how they go in, they just burst in. Extraordinary guys," Bridge-Smith said.

Fire crews were able to control the fire within minutes of getting to the scene. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Within minutes of arriving at the scene, fire crews were able to take control of the fire.

"They were incredibly fast. The neighbours all had their fire hoses out to trying to contain it."

Bridge-Smith said the speed in which the fire was spreading was frightening.

"When you see it happening like that in front of your eyes, it's terrifying."

"My wall was on fire, there was no flames coming through in my room but the heat was unbelievable."

The apartment above where the fire started was also damaged. Photo / Hayden Woodward

He said there was a few ideas of how the fire stared that "sounded odd" but he wasn't willing talk further on that.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) spokesman said all residents had been accounted for and there were no reports of injuries.

Fire investigators have been notified to understand the cause of the fire.

Bridge-Smith said he had been given the all-clear to go back into his apartment but the smell was almost unbearable.

"It's that burning rubbery garbage smell."

He said the family had been taken to the hospital as a precaution.

"They were mentally quite distraught."