Plumes of thick, black smoke can be seen billowing across Auckland as fire crews battle a house fire in the West Auckland suburb of Glen Eden this afternoon.
Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) received “multiple calls” to a house fire on Glengarry Rd at 12.09pm.
Crews from Glen Eden, Henderson, Te Atatū and Auckland City attended according to the Fenz website.
A Fenz spokesperson said upon arrival the house was “well involved” in fire and was upgraded to a second alarm.
At its height four appliances were in attendance at the scene. Shortly after 1.30pm three appliances remained at the scene and were continuing to extinguish the blaze.
Bystander Phil Glen told the Herald it took fire crews “a good 30 minutes” to get the blaze under control. He said “very thick, black smoke” was pouring from the house and over a dozen nearby residents flocked onto the street to watch it unfold.
“You could feel the heat from where I was standing across the road,” Glen said.
He said the roof had collapsed in the fire and crews were using two hoses to extinguish it.
Glen said there was confusion among residents in the area because there had been a controlled burn-off nearby which was also sending smoke into the air since Wednesday morning - so residents believed it was the same fire.
Video of the fire - taken from the North Shore - shows thick smoke billowing across the city from West Auckland.
A police spokesperson said they had been notified of the fire but were not currently attending.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.