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• Nine-year-old Harper Davis alerted McDonald’s staff to a fire, prompting an evacuation.
• The intense fire gutted the Pakuranga McDonald’s, with no injuries reported.
• Police are investigating the fire as suspected arson, conducting a scene examination.

A nine-year-old Auckland schoolgirl is being hailed as a hero after spotting a flicker of fire in a McDonald’s playground and alerting staff minutes before it erupted into a massive blaze.

The intense fire tore through Pakuranga McDonald’s around 3pm yesterday, with flames leaping up the restaurant’s windows, and plumes of thick, black smoke pouring out across Auckland city.

St Mark’s Catholic School pupil Harper Davis was at the McDonald’s playground waiting to be picked up by her mother after class.

Schoolgirl Harper Davis wearing a firefighter's helmet outside the scene of the blaze.

While playing, she noticed a small amount of smoke hurting her eyes that meant she “couldn’t really breathe properly”.

“I climbed on the slide to check if the bin was on fire but it wasn’t, then I saw a flicker of fire on the first level of the playground,” Harper said.

“I saw the ground was on fire; something had reflected, or someone lit it on fire.”

The fire at Pakuranga McDonald's is being treated as suspected arson. Photo / suppled

She ran inside to McDonald’s and told a staff member: “There’s a fire in your playground!”

There were multiple staff members and about four customers in the store at the time, Harper said.

• Watch: 'Can’t see anything' - East Auckland McDonald's on fire

“The staff members were like, ‘Oh my gosh it’s on fire!’, and then they told everyone to get out,” she said.

Her mum arrived about one minute after Harper spoke to a staff member, and by this time the entire playground was on fire.

The fire alarm sounded in the store and staff members dialed 111, Harper said.

Pakuranga McDonald's was consumed by thick black smoke. Photo / supplied

Five to eight minutes later, the fire had spread throughout the entire restaurant.

“The flames were higher than the top of the building and the smoke was going everywhere. It was really dark,” Harper said.

Harper and her mum quickly got into their car and drove away, fearful of the close proximity of the gas station and petrol pumps to the fire.

The McDonald’s staff thanked Harper in the immediate aftermath of the fire.

“They said, ‘You saved people’s lives, you’re such a good hero‘,” Harper said.

The force of the fire ripped through the restaurant building within minutes. Photo / Sebastian Johnson

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said everyone was safely evacuated from the fire with no reports of injuries.

St Mark’s teacher Jenny McKenzie said at the time of the fire, they saw thick smoke from the school and realised it was the nearby McDonald’s.

McKenzie said she was “incredibly worried” because she knew that Harper had walked to the fast food restaurant.

The teachers raced to find her.

“We’re incredibly proud of her...and huge hugs for her when she arrived this morning because we’re so relieved,” McKenzie said.

“She was a little bit of a celebrity at school today!”

Harper was a “really sensible” girl with a lot of common sense and initiative, she said.

Fire suspected arson

Detective Senior Sergeant Michele Gillespie said a scene guard had been in place at McDonald’s Pakuranga overnight.

“At this point in time we are treating this fire as suspected arson,” Gillespie said.

“As part of these inquiries we will be working to understand how the fire originated.”

He said Harper had been interviewed by a police detective to assist the ongoing investigation into the cause of the fire.

Police were carrying out a scene examination at the restaurant this morning.