Emergency services attended to a large grass fire that also took hold in a well-recognised unoccupied house in Whitford on Friday afternoon.

The blaze broke out in the paddock and building next to the busy intersection of Clifton Road and Whitford-Maraetai Road.

The Times arrived at the scene about 6pm.

Counties Manukau Police say they were “assisting with traffic control at a house fire”.

They were called by Fire and Emergency New Zealand to assist at about 4.40pm.

Police say the house, positioned near the boundary of a farm property, “was abandoned, so police have been assisting FENZ with initial inquiries into the circumstances”.

FENZ told the Times on Friday night that they received “multiple calls about a house fire in the Whitford area at 4.24pm”.

Four fire trucks and two water tankers attended the scene and extinguished a “grass fire that covered an area of 100 metres by 20 metres”.

FENZ confirmed the fire also engaged the uninhabited building and was put out by its officers, and that a fire investigator will be inspecting the site on Saturday.