Firefighters are scaling back after a fire broke out at a property in Christchurch in the early hours of Wednesday.
Four crews were called to the blaze on Rutherford Street in Woolston around 6am, where the property was engulfed.
Three fire engines remain and a water tanker, while the fire safety crew is en route to establish the cause, a fire spokesperson says.
Crews were battling to keep the flames from spreading to neighbouring properties.
A neighbour says he looked out the kitchen window at 6am and didn't see anything.
"Three minutes later my wife called from the bathroom and said the house next door was on fire.
"The sky was red."
He believed it was the old ice cream factory which isn't occupied.
"The first thing I did was run for the phone.
"The speed it caught fire is absolutely horrifying."
Ambulances are at the scene, although no injuries have been reported.
The fire has destroyed the building (Newshub.)
Newshub.
