Takanini fire: Restaurant owner suffers burns to face and hands battling blaze

A restaurant owner suffered burns to his hands and face fighting a large fire at their South Auckland eatery last night.

The raging flames were captured on camera by motorists passing by and took almost a dozen fire crews to put out the inferno which spread across the block of shops on Great South Rd in Takanini.

Shere Punjab, Golden Hut Takeaway and Takanini Bakehouse and Espresso were all damaged.

The worst hit of all was the Indian eatery, Shere Punjab.

Owner Billa Dhillon spoke to the Herald from the hospital today and said his face and hands were burnt as he tried to battle the flames.

“I am still in the emergency department of the hospital getting treated. I am in a lot of pain. I can hardly speak,” he said.

This morning, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) investigator was at the scene. Emergency services were called to the blaze shortly after 8pm yesterday.

Northern fire communications said the blaze had since been extinguished and that one truck remained on site to monitor any hot spots.

A huge fire engulfed eateries on Great South Rd in Takanini last night. Photo / Supplied

The blaze had engulfed three shops on the block forcing the closures of nearby roads and a motorway off-ramp. Neighbouring buildings were also evacuated.

Fenz said last night that although the fire had been contained, the building involved was in the middle of a block of shops and the fire then had a high risk of spreading.

The fire had engulfed two-thirds of the two-storey building, authorities said.

The Shere Punjab restaurant was gutted by fire. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Nine fire trucks and two ladder trucks were fighting the blaze. There were no reported injuries.

Police said Great South Rd, between Spartan Rd and Manuroa Rd, had been closed. The southbound motorway off-ramp at Takanini had also been closed.

Motorists were asked to avoid the area and take an alternate route.

A worker at the BP petrol station next to the fire’s location said they had to be evacuated out of fear the flames would spread.

Their fuel pumps were switched off as a precaution.

Manurewa-Papakura Ward councillor Daniel Newman commended Fenz for mobilising numerous trucks and responding to the incident.

“This fire will put pressure on our crews this evening and it will require traffic to divert away from that part of the Great South Auckland. There are a number of businesses in that particular block and I am very sad for the affected business owners,” Newman said.

“But I want to express my gratitude for Fire and Emergency who have been on site for several hours now. The location of the fire and the facilities around it mean a comprehensive response is necessary to contain then extinguish the blaze.”