Prominent Auckland plant nursery 'shell-shocked' after huge fire

One of the country's most prominent plant nurseries has been left "shell-shocked" by a massive blaze at its warehouse in Auckland's northwest last night.

Firefighters worked for over two hours to contain the blaze at Van Lier Nurseries in Kumeū after being called to the scene at about 9.45pm, Fire and Emergency NZ said.

Sixteen fire trucks and multiple support vehicles were deployed to the scene.

Van Lier Nurseries manager Joanne Hurley said the company supplied hundreds of flower sellers and that they were "devastated" at the blaze.

"We're still shell-shocked and just trying to plan a workaround so that we can still take care of the plants and the greenhouse," she told 1News.

Part of the on-site facility had survived the fire, including cut flower glass houses.

"We've lost the shed at the front that contained all of the mechanics for driving the fertigation system, the irrigation, and the environmental computer that opens and closes the vents of the glasshouse. It's pretty awful."

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson said three appliances were still on scene monitoring and dampening down hotspots this morning.

The cause of the fire was not yet known and investigations were expected.

Speaking to 1News, the firefighters' union vice president Martin Campbell was critical of the equipment involved in the response to the nursery fire.

According to the union, firefighters used a truck with a long ladder that had been moved up from Wellington after Auckland's two trucks had earlier broken down.

But then a technical delay with the Wellington truck meant another one was ordered up from Hamilton, leaving that region exposed.

"Fire trucks breaking down are a daily problem now. Unfortunately, right across the country, not just in Auckland," Campbell said. "It's symptomatic of an organisation that has failed to plan, failed to take any contingencies."

On Monday, FENZ deputy national commander Megan Stiffler told 1News it has had five new aerial ladders on order since 2023, and 28 fire trucks on order for next year.

"We've got an asset management plan for the next 10 years where we'll be spending about $20 million a year just on trucks."

As for the ladders, Stiffler said it took about two years to procure them in from Finland, and "they're currently being built in Australia and New Zealand, and they should be on deck early in the new year".

Stiffler said she was confident the system was adequately resourced as "the system worked".

"When there was a fault in the system, we got the mobile mechanic out.

"We actually established it wasn't a mechanical and electrical fault, but in the meantime, while we were working that out, we got another one on the road from Hamilton, and that's how the network works."

Van Lier Nurseries was currently the largest rose grower in the North Island and 1.5ha of glasshouses containing more than 30 varieties of roses were not affected by the fire.