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From Police website

Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt Residents Evacuated From Inferno

Part of a Lower Hutt residential street remains cordoned off today while Fire and Police investigators attempt to determine the cause of a large blaze that has destroyed or extensively damaged 6 addresses.

An unoccupied address under construction in Cornwall Street was discovered well alight by a passing Police patrol at about 1.30 am this morning.

Numerous fire appliances struggled to contain the fire that was fanned by strong and blusterous winds. Before the fire was controlled 4 neighbouring addresses were extensively damaged with others suffering smoke damage.

Detective Sergeant Mike Sears of the Lower Hutt CIB said “This was an incredibly dangerous situation. Emergency staff, assisted by members of the public, did an outstanding job evacuating all those exposed to risk despite the obvious risks to their own safety. It is amazing that no-one was physically harmed.”

Given the extent of the damage it will take some time before we are in a position to determine the cause of the fire. At this stage we are simply not in a position to say if it was deliberately lit or not.

Despite this we urgently need to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time, regardless of whether they think they saw anything suspicious or not.” Please call the Lower Hutt Police on 5602600.

Mike Sears
Detective Sergeant
Lower Hutt CIB

Full photos and article courtesy of  Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit from the night of the incident.

There was a large fire in the early morning at a house in central Lower Hutt.
The house where the fire started was completely destroyed and six neighbouring houses were damaged.

At this stage the fire is being treated as suspicious.

Full photos and article courtesy of  Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit

Earlier this evening a shop fire occurred in Hillary Court Naenae. At this stage no further details are available. Cheers to Steve http://twitter.com/stevebiddle who was on the scene.

 Larger view here

Police are investigating after a Lower Hutt house was set on fire when an emergency flare landed on its roof last night.

The flare, thought to have come from Naenae, landed on the house’s conservatory roof and burned its way through, igniting the interior. The house sustained moderate damage.

Witnesses were asked to contact Lower Hutt Police on (04) 560 2600.

About 30 firefighters were called to a fire under a sulphur vat at the Shell plant in Lower Hutt this afternoon.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said staff at the plant activated a deluge system to try and extinguish the fire in the suburb of Seaview. Firefighters arrived and put the blaze out.

Crews from 10 fire engines – including a specialist engine for staff with breathing apparatus, a command unit and an engine allowing an aerial attack – were used. Firefighters were still at the scene after 3pm but the fire was under control.

A fire caused by an explosion at a Wellington substation has been extinguished.

Staff at the Haywards Substation were installing a new piece of equipment just before midday when it tripped and caused the blaze in a confined basement area.

The fire was under control by 4pm.

Further details at Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit website as they emerge

No-one was injured in the explosion.

Several Fire engines attended a fire in a block of flats on Cambridge Terrace, Epuni, last night around 5:30pm. The situation was contained quickly. Traffic was diverted around the area at the time.

Update

All occupants uninjured after fire at 48 Moleswoth St Taita

Photos below of damage

The fire started in the Kitchen
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Emergency services are at the scene of a house fire in Lower Hutt.

Police said all occupants of the house on Molesworth St in Taita were believed to be accounted for.

Molesworth St was closed to traffic and pedestrians between Cooper St and Tocker St.

A fire that broke out in a Lower Hutt warehouse has been extinguished.

The blaze began around 4.15pm in an oil-fired furnace at Monroes Springs on Hutt Park Rd in Gracefield.

Five fire engines and their crews went to the scene, and police diverted traffic around the area. The fire was contained in an oil tempering bath inside the spring factory. A large column of smoke was visible from surrounding areas but the fire itself caused minimal damage to the factory.

There are no reports of injuries, a fire communications spokesman said.