Police name man killed in Paeroa blaze

Fatal fire in Paeroa Picture. Photo / Belinda Feek, NZ Herald

A 65-year-old man who lost his life in a blaze in Paeroa has been named by police.

Paeroa local, Alan James Scott, died after a large blaze collapsed the roof of a commercial building.

The incident occurred in a two-storey jewellery factory and residential building in central Paeroa about 1.20am yesterday morning.

The large building was well ablaze when 11 fire crews arrived, fire service northern communications spokesman Jaron Phillips said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Graham Pitkethley said an investigation into the incident was underway.

"A post mortem was completed in Auckland today to determine how Mr Scott died. It will be a number of weeks before those findings are available," he said.

"Our staff will be continuing to work in and around the scene over the coming days, in conjunction with the Fire Service, to fully understand how the fire was caused and provide answers for Mr Scott's family."

The building owner, who asked not to be named, said the middle part of the building had been gutted but from the front and back it looked the same.

"Apart from losing power we're fine but we're just pretty devastated about the death of a tenant," she said.

"It's just bricks and mortar as far as we're concerned but we've lost a very good neighbour."