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Eighteen fire appliances have doused an early morning fire at a boarding house in central Auckland.
Fire Service assistant regional commander David Neil said emergency services were called to the blaze at 373 Karangahape Road at about 6.50am.
The fire, on the three-storey building's top floor, damaged a couple of rooms and a hallway. The building also houses the Rising Sun club.
Senior Station Officer Jeff McCulloch said some people were trapped on a rear balcony when firefighters arrived and the building was burning fiercely.
"It was through the windows on the top floor."
Commander Neil said crews were initially told that five people were missing, but a search of the building in conjunction with firefighting procedures, resulted in all eleven residents being accounted for.
Rose Yates, 24, said she ran into the burning building to search for a friend.
"It was just an instinct I kinda had about my friend, just like I would do for my family if they were inside."
She said the inside of the building was very smoky.
After finding her friend's room empty she planned to escape through a kitchen window but it was bolted and she could not get out.
"I had to run back down to my room to get through the window to get out," she said.
The Ambulance Service attended the fire but said that no-one had been injured.
Fire Service investigators are trying to determine the cause of the blaze.
- NZHERALD STAFF / NZPA
