KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of people were evacuated from Milford shopping mall on the North Shore after a fire broke out in the $2 Shop.
Twelve fire engines were called around 3.30pm from across the region, along with police and ambulance, for what was feared to be a major incident.
Paul Turner, deputy chief fire officer, confirmed the fire started in the store room of the $2 Shop.
"The whole mall was smoke-logged which hampered operations," he said.
However the blaze was controlled quickly, aided by the sprinkler system in the shop, Turner added.
Traffic is now gridlocked all round the Milford area and the backlog is affecting rush hour traffic over the Harbour Bridge.
One person has been taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and another elderly woman was treated at the scene for the effects of breathing smoke.
"I was working and heard the alarm go off and we all moved out," Solan Len, 24, a part-time worker at Woolworths, said.
Emergency services are still at the scene and police are moving pedestrians away from the immediate vicinity. Nearby roads, including Beach and Ihumata Roads, are closed to traffic and motorists and sight-seers are being urged to avoid the area to allow better emergency access.
Judy Cameron from Milford was sitting opposite the $2 Shop, drinking a cup of coffee when the shop owner came running out yelling "fire, fire".
Ms Cameron went to the shop to have a look but the owner was panicking and saying hysterically "there's fire out the back of the shop".
Ms Cameron then went to tell the mall management and "not long after that the mall was filled with smoke", she said.
Once outside, evacuated out a side door, she recalled, the smoke was smelling toxic.
"It was quite a worry, I was thinking the whole mall would burn down," she said.
Wayne Highett, acting chief fire officer for the North Shore, said the smoke spread quickly prompting the swift and successful evacuation.
Fire safety officers will begin an investigation once the smoke has cleared.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
