A group of German tourists will have to continue the rest of their working holiday without a van after it was found 'totally involved in fire” outside Opotiki Hotel early this morning.

Nearby resident Stephen Brenner photographed the van on Sunday morning after he was woken by what sounded like "gun shots" at the Opotiki Hotel car park.

No-one was inside the van when emergency services were called to the blaze in the car park of the Church Street hotel just before 3am on Sunday.

The hotel owner, who did not wish to be named, is unsure if the van has been torched or whether the fire was caused by an electrical fault.

'The car was exploding. There were two cars, one's a right off and the other one's bubbled on one side – they managed to get it out of the way.

'We don't know for sure if it was torched or whether it was an electrical fault.”

Thee hotel owner says police were at the scene at 3am and the car park is currently manned by a security guard until police and fire investigators return later this morning. There is police tape around the scene.

She says the van belongs to a group of about 10 German tourists who have been staying at the hotel for about two weeks.

'They're on a working holiday and they've been really good people. They don't deserve any of this.

'They're a bit shaken up. Naturally they're not going to be overly joyed about it.”

Police tape is around the scene where a van was found on fire at 3am on Sunday.

Nearby resident Stephen Benner was woken by what sounded like 'gunshots” coming from the car park about 3am.

'[It was] rather hard to miss from our place only 80 metres away. We awoke to the sound of the fire siren, explosions, the smell of smoke and then the sight of the brigade dealing with the inferno.

'I have no official information but as we know parked cars do not burst into flames all by themselves in the middle of the night, there is more to this than meets the eye…some vendetta maybe.”

Northern Fire Communications shift manager Megan Ruru says the van was found totally involved in fire when firefighters arrived at 2.50am on Sunday.

Megan says Opotiki Volunteer Fire Brigade attended and the matter has now been handed over to police.

SunLive's calls to the fire brigade and Opotiki Police have so far been unanswered.