Cars go up in flames as fire spreads through scrapyard

1:49 pm on 19 September 2022
Fire background

Photo: 123RF

Police and fire investigators are examining a Christchurch scrapyard where about 100 cars caught fire last night.

Emergency services were called to the site in Woolston at 10.30pm, and the blaze was extinguished in the early hours of the morning.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand southern shift manager Alex Norris said it took eight fire trucks and a specialist high-ladder appliance to put it out.

"We had crews rotating in and out, monitoring the fire overnight until the fire investigators got there this morning, and they're currently investigating the cause of the fire," he said.

"We had approximately 100 cars that were involved on fire."

The blaze covered about 300 square metres.

It comes a month after a similar fire about two kilometres away.

Fifty firefighters and 18 trucks were involved in extinguishing the blaze at National Steel in August.

Police are still looking for four suspects in relation to the earlier fire and have released CCTV footage to the public to try and identify the group.

Police have not yet said whether there are any suspects in relation to last night's fire.