Vapebox employee Geoffrey Mairs said he had no idea why someone would target the business. Photo / Supplied
Vapebox employee Geoffrey Mairs said he had no idea why someone would target the business. Photo / Supplied
Someone threw petrol over an Auckland vape shop and shoved a lit newspaper under the door on Saturday morning, setting the door on fire, a worker says.
Exactly 24 hours later they came back to finish the job, driving a car through the Vapebox shop front and setting it alight, police believe.
But employee Geoffrey Mairs says he's got no idea why.
Mairs was asleep on his own in the accommodation above the shop at 471 Manukau Rd in Epsom when he was woken at 3am by a car smashing into the building.
Police believe that car was then set alight, sending the whole shop up in flames. At least 13 fire crews were called to the blaze, which gutted Vapebox and sent thick smoke spewing into the street.
St John ambulance said three people were treated at the scene - one in a moderate condition and two in a minor condition.
At 3am the previous morning there had also been an arson attempt. Mairs said he had been woken by the shop's motion sensor.
"I woke up thinking somebody was robbing the shop or something. I flicked on the camera and saw there was like a newspaper stuffed under the front door, it was on fire and the whole door had caught fire."
Police have been reviewing CCTV footage after a car was reportedly driven into a shop and deliberately set alight. Photo / Hayden Woodward
He got out and called 111. The fire had been extinguished quickly.
"There was still damage, the windows were cracked, but we were able to continue on business as usual. Obviously it's not business as usual today."
Mairs believed the same people had decided to finish the job, presumably using a stolen car.
But he said he had no clue who they were or what their grudge was.
"We've got no information. I think police are scratching their heads thinking this is not possible - we must know who wants to get us but ... we genuinely have no idea who would want to do this."
He had gone home to have a sleep at his parents' house and was headed back this morning to see what was salvageable.
"Anything that's plastic, like a lot of the devices that we sell, they've all just melted."
The business - which is barely a year old - had no contents insurance, Mairs said.
Police were reviewing CCTV and fire investigators were at the scene this morning to determine the cause of the blaze.
