People were heard screaming at residents to get out as their adjoining townhouses went up in flames in the Auckland suburb of Favona.

Fauzia Ali and her partner were on their way home last night when they drove past the fire on Walmsley Rd.

Ali said they only saw the smoke at first and thought someone must have been burning tires, but as they got closer they saw one of the townhouses “completely engulfed in flames”.

She said people were standing outside the properties yelling to others to “get out of the house”.

Ali said flames were coming out of the back of another townhouse and the fire had spread to the fence at the boundary of the property.

Police have urged anyone with information about the fire to get in contact with them.

“At this stage, our enquiries are in the very early stages to determine the full circumstances,” a police spokesperson said.

“We ask anyone with information or footage to please contact police.”

Fire crews at the blaze in Favona. Photo / Hayden Woodward

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Information can be given by calling 105 or online using Update My Report, quoting the event number P056705350. Alternatively, information could also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) said they were in attendance “at a multiple property fire used as a house” last night.

Photos from a Herald photographer at the scene show the row of townhouses on Walmsley Rd badly damaged by the blaze.

Staff at the petrol station across the road reported seeing smoke and five to six fire trucks on site.

Fire crews at the blaze in Favona. Photo / Hayden Woodward

“All persons are accounted for and crews are dampening down and setting up a decontamination centre,” a Fenz spokesperson said.

Firefighters could be seen being decontaminated after leaving the block of units.

Fire investigators were seen arriving last night while firefighters were still present to extinguish any remaining hot spots.

Traffic control was in place and a section of Walmsley Rd remained closed.

Caitlan Johnston is a breaking news reporter based in Waikato. She joined the Herald in 2022.