New Zealand hostel fire kills at least six people
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — At least six people are dead after a fire broke out overnight at a multistory hostel in New Zealand’s capital in what fire officials are describing as their “worst nightmare” and a once-in-a-decade event. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Local police estimate that fewer than 10 people were killed, although authorities were still investigating the scene Tuesday morning local time. Fifty-two people had been accounted for, Wellington fire commander Nick Pyatt said on local morning news program “AM.”
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told reporters that first responders were pulled in from “across the region” to help fight the blaze.
Loafers Lodge, in the suburb of Newtown in southern Wellington, advertises itself as “a cost-effective accommodation option” for short- and long-term residents.
Paul Jury, who had been living at the lodge for about 18 months, said that when the smoke alarm first went off, he thought that it could have been one of a number of false alarms in recent times. “There were a lot of false alarms,” he told reporters.
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Firefighters arrived at 12:25 a.m. Tuesday to face “a very challenging incident,” Pyatt said. The fire rapidly spread up and burned up through the roof, he said.
“It doesn’t get worse than this,” Pyatt told reporters. “This is a once-in-a-decade fire for Wellington. It’s the worst nightmare for us.”
Pyatt said the large volume of residents in the building added to the difficulty of the rescue mission. Five people were rescued off the roof, he said.
The country’s housing minister, Megan Woods, said the building was inspected earlier this year, and met the standards of the country’s building code — including a stand-alone fire alarm system — although fire authorities confirmed Tuesday that there were no sprinklers in the building.
Hipkins said there were many shift workers living in the building, so it was unclear how many residents were at work when the fire started.
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At this stage “the cause of the fire is unexplained, and Police will be working alongside [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] to determine cause,” the Wellington District Police said in a statement.
Local news outlet Stuff said the fire was being treated as suspicious, citing a senior emergency services source.
“I’m committed to finding out what went wrong here, who is at fault,” Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau told Stuff. When she first arrived on the scene Tuesday morning, Whanau said, she mistakenly believed that all of the hostel’s residents had been safely evacuated. “When the time is right, we will be holding the right people to account.”
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Source: The Washington Post
