A precautionary street closure and evacuation of O’Connells shopping mall in central Queenstown ended quietly with the affected streets reopening after several hours, and nothing of concern apparently found by emergency services.
Naylor Love workers were evacuated from the shopping mall on the corner of Camp and Beach Sts about 1.30pm and a busy street at the heart of the town remained closed for most of the afternoon.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Andrew Norris said three crews had responded to reports of a small fire in the main switchboard at the site that was ‘‘quickly extinguished or out on arrival’’.
But a spokesman for Fenz later said there was a suspected chemical reaction between two substances.
He said a fire investigator was inspecting the area and the streets remained closed while checks were carried out for gas.
A Fenz spokeswoman said this evening that a careful check had found no gas, and affected streets had reopened before 5pm, with an official ‘‘stop’’ message filed by firefighters in the area at 4.45pm.
A police spokeswoman said the operation had been run by Fenz with traffic control support provided by police.
Police had remained in a supporting role, and it was not immediately clear exactly when the specific streets involved at reopened.
Nothing suspicious had been reported to police, or required further investigation, and the police support role had ended as firefighters completed checking the area and left, she said.
