Clouds of smoke wafted across the Rotorua CBD after a fire at a Fenton St restaurant this afternoon.
The Rotorua Fire Brigade was called to the rear of the former Kurious Kiwi restaurant about 5.20pm. When they arrived, the outside of the building was "well involved" in flames, senior station officer Jim Prescott said.
"The fire was between the air conditioning unit and the rear wall," he said. "It took two crews of four firefighters four minutes to get it under control."
He said there was a "surprising" amount of smoke, which could be seen and smelt as far away as Eat Streat.
Mr Prescott said an investigation was underway to establish the cause of the fire but the possibility it was suspicious could not be ruled out.