People travelling to work in the Greerton area this morning have reported see large amounts of smoke.

A SunLive reader messaged our Facebook page to say there was a fire at one of the businesses opposite the Greerton Marist Rugby Grounds.

'My hubby said he saw smoke and people outside on his way to work at 6.15am.

'He said there was quite a bit of smoke.”

Another reader, who lives opposite to where the fire was, says the explosion that went off first sounded like a bomb had exploded.

"We literally all jumped out of bed at 5.50am, it was that loud," says Jo McIlwaine.

Greerton Fire Brigade was called to what was initially reported to be a structure fire, just before 6am.

New Zealand Fire and Emergency northern communications shift manager Colin Underdown says there was a fire in a dust extractor at a local business.

He says quite often the dust catches fire and causes a lot of smoke.