An overheating conveyer belt at a checkout closed a Dunedin supermarket for an hour yesterday morning.
Two appliances were called to Countdown Mailer St after a burning smell prompted the building's evacuation.
Station Officer Brent Foster, of Roslyn, said electrical overheating melted plastic at a checkout, resulting in a strong, overpowering smell in the supermarket.
''It was the grocery belt at a checkout. One of the rollers had somehow seized and overheated and burnt through the mechanical operating system,'' Mr Foster said.
Countdown staff evacuated the building about 8.20am before using a fire extinguisher to douse the checkout, Mr Foster said.
A Countdown spokeswoman said 15 people were evacuated from the building.
Mr Foster said firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus, entered the building and ''isolated power, dismantled the conveyer belt and ventilated the building''.
- Erin Speedy
