A large fire in Napier forced police to close part of State Highway 51 on Thursday evening.
Fire and Emergency NZ were called to the commercial property on Bowen Street at 7:22pm on Thursday after it was reported wooden pallets had caught fire and had spread across parts of the surrounding grass.
Two appliances, one from Hastings and the other from Napier, as well as a tanker, were on the scene and had the fire extinguished by 8:15pm.
James Davy drove past the fire and in a video he took, thick black smoke can be seen billowing into the sky.
"I saw a huge plume of smoke coming over the Clive Bridge; the heat was incredible driving pass," Davy told Newshub.
"I remember thinking that the grass and scrub is so dry it wouldn't take much for the fire to travel and really get out of hand."
The video showed people watching from afar as the large flames burnt through the pallets.
SH51 between Awatoto Road and Waitangi Road was closed by police which re-opened at 9:20 pm.
