Firefighters outside the Alicetown Foodmarket, Lower Hutt. Photo: RNZ / Phil Pennington
Fire and Emergency says it got to a shop fire in Lower Hutt earlier today within its targeted response time despite trucks having to come from other stations.
Three people, including a young boy, escaped from their home at the back of Alicetown Foodmarket on Victoria Street around 6am.
An RNZ reporter said the door was blackened and the shop's interior was damaged, but the fire did not spread to the neighbouring shops.
Police said nobody was hurt.
The fire happened just 500 metres from the Hutt City fire station, but the station had been closed 18 months ago for repairs.
As a result, firefighters had to come from two other stations 4km kilometres and 5km away.
The Professional Firefighters Union said crews could have arrived nearly five minutes sooner.
But Fire and Emergency regional manager Bruce Stubbs said in a statement the crews arrived "within our target response time of eight minutes".
Union president Ian Wright said the lack of a local fire station was putting people in Alicetown and Western Hills at unnecessary risk.
FENZ needed to be more transparent about any plans for a new station in the area, Wright said.
Stubbs said crews were moved out of Hutt City in December 2021 due to concerns with the long-term suitability of the leased premises.
It was considering shifting the Hutt City station to another location, he said.
In the meantime, the Hutt City crews would remain at Avalon station.
"The Lower Hutt community can be assured that if they need our crews, we will be there," he said.