WELLINGTON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A group of 36 people escaped unharmed from a massive 11-level marae fire in Wellington in the early hours of Sunday.

A firefighter was injured and taken to hospital battling a fierce blaze that razed Wellington's Tapu Te Ranga Marae overnight.

A total of 70 firefighters were called to fight the massive fire at the urban marae at Island Bay at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

A 11-level, wooden meeting building from the 1970s in the marae complex was burned to the ground in the fire and other buildings were also damaged.

A number of neighboring houses to the north of the marae complex were evacuated, according to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.