More than 60 firefighters tackled a blaze at Waiuku recycling facility. Photo: Supplied
A large blaze that tore through a recycling facility in the Auckland town of Waiuku is being treated as suspicious.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said it was called to the incident about 11pm on Monday, and found nearly 5000 square metres of plastic on fire. Six shipping containers were also on fire.
FENZ said 16 fire trucks attended at the peak of the blaze, which was contained as of 5am Tuesday morning.
The fire was now extinguished, and they had returned the site to its owner.
"Thank you to our crews who worked throughout the night to extinguish the fire," a spokesperson said. "If you are in the vicinity, it is now safe to open doors and windows and go outside without a mask."
The owner of Waiuku Business Park, Sam Wulff, told RNZ he leased out part of the industrial lot to the plastics recycling company, Future Post.
He was shocked to learn that the fire might have been deliberately lit there.
"It's gut-wrenching that somebody gets joy out of something as pathetic as that to go and put a match to it or whatever they did."
He did not know what caused the fire.
FENZ said it would work with police to determine the cause.
Police said a scene guard remained in place and they would examine the scene later on Tuesday.
Residents near a huge fire at a recycling facility in Waiuku on Monday night were asked to stay indoors. Photo: Supplied
Wulff said he had been informed it was most likely arson.
"There's nothing that would naturally have caused a fire."
He said he first learned about the fire after getting a call from the fire chief at 1:30am.
"He doesn't call at 1:30am for a chat, so there was obviously something brewing that shouldn't be."
He drove up from Tauranga to assess the situation.
He said the recycling facility converted waste plastic into fence posts, and he estimated the materials were worth tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of dollars.
"Now it's all just turned into ash."
He said Future Post had been informed about what happened.
Future Posts' main recycling facility was not affected. The main facility is about 200m from its storage area, which was what caught fire.
Both facilities were at the Waiuku Business Park.
An Auckland auto shop next door to the recycling plant was without access to its property after the blaze.
Sprint R-E Engineering posted on Facebook that the carpark in front of the business park, which was full of plastic fence posts, caught alight.
Residents in the vicinity were asked to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut. Photo: Supplied
"At this stage we have no access to the shop and power is out. Can't thank the fire crews enough for the amazing work", its post read.
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