The Z Energy staff who helped put out a man on fire near the Cameron Road service station at the weekend have been removed from the public eye, says station owner Dave Gillies.

'They're doing okay. They have been referred to some trauma counselling which is really useful. The biggest thing for them is people just coming in asking questions all the time.”

Police talk with Z Energy staff at the scene on Saturday afternoon.

The staff had chatted with the 55-year-old man before he left the station, dousing himself in petrol and setting himself alight on Saturday afternoon.

Dave says questions to staff have been constant since the incident, and those involved were finding it difficult.

'What we have done as a result is we have the cashier that was on, on Saturday when the event happened, we have actually put her to a different station at the moment, so she's not getting that.

'The other person on site at the time is off duty at the moment as part of his days off. Hopefully as the week progresses that sort of inquiry will reduce.

'Clearly it just brings it back to mind every time someone asks about it.”

The man gave no indication of his intention when he bought a container and petrol at the service station about 3.30pm, says Dave.

'He was just like a regular customer buying a can of petrol for his lawnmower or something. He even said to the cashier ‘Have a good afternoon'.”

One of the Z staff was directly involved with members of the public in efforts to put the man out and cool him down.

A service station fire extinguisher was used, followed by water from the windscreen washing buckets and watering cans.

'The members of the public just used all our watering cans and buckets and just kept water over him until the ambulance got there,” says Dave.

'I can't praise our guys enough and also the members of the public that helped out. Nothing could have been done more than what they did, and my guys have got just so much support from around our other stations, and within Z through to our guys, which is just fantastic.”

Dave has never known anyone who's gone through an event like his staff did.

'Seeing my guys, how they handled themselves, showed they had the skills there to help out at the time. They stayed calm and I think they did awesomely.”

All Z staff go through first aid training and know how to correctly handle fire extinguishers, and to use water on burns, says Dave.

The burned man was flown to Middlemore Hospital's Intensive Care Unit on Saturday night where he remains today in a critical condition.