Onehunga fire: Seven cars, BMWs and Audis, lost to blaze at Onehunga, Auckland, workshop

A business owner has lost seven cars, including BMWs and Audis, all uninsured, to a fire that torched his workshop in Onehunga and left him with burns after he tried to rescue his dog inside.

Yong Sheng Bei told the Herald he was sitting in his home, in front of his workshop, when he heard an explosion outside yesterday afternoon.

“It was around 4.30pm when suddenly, boom! I looked around but could not see anything,” he said in Cantonese, translated to English.

His wife, Yan Zhong, opened the door to the workshop and was confronted by flames.

Bei ran to the workshop to rescue his dog, burning his hand on the metal door handle when he went in.

He then leapt from a second-storey window as the fire spread through the building.

Thick, black and acrid smoke could be seen from around the neighbourhood, and police on the scene told onlookers to step back as there was a risk of burning asbestos.

Emergency services gave out oxygen masks to several neighbours as a precaution, as people described the air as smelling like burned plastic.

A witness told the Herald they could hear cracking and piles of soot were raining down in the area.

Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) was alerted to an inferno on Galway St at 4.38pm.

Fifteen fire trucks and 60 firefighters responded. Fenz put the fire out by 7.45pm.

St John said they treated one patient in a moderate condition at the scene and then took him to Auckland City Hospital.

When the Herald visited the scene today, Bei’s house was untouched by the fire, but his workshop had been almost completely razed.

A charred building frame remained, and blackened car bodies could be seen in the wreckage, one still on a hoist.

Sheets of corrugated iron lay on the ground at the front of the warehouse next to singed gas bottles.

Bei, originally from Shanghai, China said he had lived in the house for 14 years, where he had also started repairing cars and selling parts.

He showed the Herald the burn on his right hand, along with scratches and grazes on his left. He described the shock that went through his leg when he jumped from the window.

The scene still smelled of smoke and cordon tape surrounded the warehouse. His wife showed his dog, sitting at the entrance to the workshop, which both were pleased had survived.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.