Top Auckland department store hit by fire

Thick smoke from a fire in the Smith & Caughey department store poured out on to Auckland's Queen St late last night.

Areas of Queen St and Wellesley St were closed as firefighters fought the blaze.

They broke into the store by smashing the glass of the Wellesley St entrance with an axe, and found the fire on the ground floor.

Incident commander Barry Fox said the Fire Service was alerted when the sprinkler system was activated just before 10.40pm.

"We had to force entry, and then fire officers went in with gas masks to locate the fire and put it out.

"We don't know what caused it, but it was by the ground floor escalators with other electrical equipment, so it might be that."

Mr Fox said the bottom floor of the landmark department store was filled with "extensive smoke logging" which spilled onto the neighbouring streets.

Auckland Fire Service communications shift manager Megan Ruru said firefighters were staying at the store well into the night to extract the smoke and clean up water from the sprinklers.