Auckland temple engulfed in blaze

A Hindu temple in South Auckland has been gutted by fire tonight.

Emergency services received a call around 8.30 pm last night saying that the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami temple, on Great South Rd in Papatoetoe, was ablaze.

The fire services’ senior station officer Lance Blyde said the building was "fully engulfed in fire" when they arrived.

Mr Blyde said the temple was unoccupied at the time and the cause of the fire was unknown.

Fire services sent out six trucks and a command unit to combat the blaze, which was underneath high-voltage power lines.

It had been extinguished by about 10pm but members of the Hindu community remained on site.

M K  Pillay, who owns the building, said he was last there at one that afternoon.

"The alarm monitors rang me up and said 'Your alarm is on’, and meanwhile someone from here rang me and said ‘Your building is on fire’," Mr Pillay said.

He said the building had been converted into a temple and there were plans to build another on an adjacent lot in the industrial complex but they didn’t yet have resource consent.

- © Fairfax NZ News