Digger sifting through charred remains of goods at warehouse fire

Tuesday, 8 April 2025

A walkthrough inside the burnt Christchurch warehouse shows the aftermath of Monday’s fire. Crews are still working to fully extinguish the blaze and monitor smoke risk.

A digger is sifting through the charred remains of products burned in a large warehouse fire in Christchurch to ensure the flames and any hotspots are fully extinguished.

Thousands of products destined for $2 shops were destroyed when the fire broke out in Bromley on Monday afternoon.

Cold air overnight had “pushed the smoke down” and all road cordons had been removed on Tuesday as firefighting efforts were “scaled back”, a fire service spokesperson said.

Damage to warehouse from yesterdays industrial fire in Christchurch

The fire had been controlled but not fully extinguished by Tuesday afternoon, with one fire truck and a digger remaining on site to pull apart and “turn over the contents of the building so that there is no heat left”, they said.

A fire in an industrial building in Maces Rd, Bromley in Christchurch sent billowed smoke across the city. ⁠

The building houses Ibees Ltd, which supplies goods to more than 35 $2 shops across the South Island.

The company’s owner and director, Nilay Dhameliya, told The Press he believed more than 4000 products were inside when the fire broke out.

“The [firefighters] took me over there, I can see everything is gone,” he said. “I don’t know if anything is left or not.”

Thick black smoke poured billowed from the building on Monday afternoon, just hours after smoke covered the city from a controlled burn near Bottle Lake Forest.

Fire crews battling a blaze at a warehouse on Maces Rd in Bromley on Monday.

A fire investigation to determine the cause is under way.