Two fires in the signage at two separate New World supermarkets within a week are not connected, the franchise's parent company says.
Newshub was first alerted to New World Whakatāne's sign catching fire by a photo posted on social media, which showed the word 'World' destroyed on the exterior wall of the supermarket.
"I went to the Warehouse and I left and the world was burning," one witness commented.
"Some men just want to watch the world burn," another social media user joked.
"Too many scorched almonds," quipped a third.
Subsequent comments also claimed there had been recent similar fires at other New World stores.
After Newshub made enquiries about the fires earlier this week, a spokesperson for New World's parent company Foodstuffs confirmed earlier on Thursday there had been two fires that "involved" external signage - at Whakatāne and Auckland's Eastridge - and investigations were underway "to determine the root cause and whether there was a link between the two".
The fire at New World Eastridge happened on December 11 at about 11:45pm and the blaze at the Whakatāne store happened in the early hours of Sunday. Both stores were closed at the time.
However, after carrying out investigations as to whether the two fires were linked, a Foodstuffs spokesperson said on Thursday night there was no connection.
"They were two separate and unrelated issues," the spokesperson said in a statement.
A safety audit of external signage is being carried out early in the new year, Foodstuffs said earlier.
Meanwhile, a third fire that happened at New World Gate Pa in Tauranga in November was not connected to the supermarket's external signage and was rather caused by a third party, the spokesperson said.
