Service station ice cream machine melts in fire

A Christchurch petrol station could be without self serve ice cream for a while after an electrical fire.

Firefighters were called to a small electrical fire in the ice cream machine at the Sockburn Z Energy petrol station on Curletts Rd in the early hours of Friday morning.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the crew arrived at the scene just after 1am.

He said the fire was put out quickly, but the machine had to be removed from the shop before the smoke could be cleared.

"The whole process of the job took half an hour," he said.