A workshop at a Central Otago religious retreat has been engulfed in flames early this morning. Fire and Emergency NZ communications shift supervisor Ian Littlejohn said crews from Middlemarch, Ranfurly and Naseby converged on the En Hakkore Religious Retreat in Orangapai Sanatorium Rd, near Waipiata, shortly before 5am. There were fears initially that welding equipment and a fuel tank inside the workshop could explode, but this did not happen. A fire investigator neither attended nor was requested, suggesting crews at the scene knew the cause and it was not suspicious, Mr Littlejohn said. The name En-Hakkore comes from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 26, 2019 22:18 UTC