Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre fire: Blaze has to burn itself out

Tuesday, 22 October 2019

Mayor Phil Goff speaks to media at Hobson St after a massive fire broke out in Auckland's CBD.

A fire which has engulfed the SkyCity Convention Centre in central Auckland will have to burn itself out.

More than five hours after the fire first sent smoke billowing through the city centre about 1pm, a Fire and Emergency NZ official said 'we just can't get to it to put it out'.

Area commander Geoff Purcell said there was no way to put the fire out from the roof as it could not withstand the weight of the firefighters needed to put it out.

Photos from above show the magnitude of the fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre.

Instead, firefighters would spend the night trying to contain the blaze and stop it spreading.

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A number of aerial fire engines are being used to tackle the fire which will have to burn itself out.

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Fire crews will battle the SkyCity Convention Centre throughout Tuesday night.

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Firefighters are trying to protect a crane from atop the SkyCity Convention Centre which could topple from the heat.

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'We just can't get to it to put it out. It's basically going to burn out,' Purcell said.

The fire is located on the level 7 roof, which is made up of two layers of straw-like material sandwiched between the waterproof roof and plywood ceiling.

Firefighters were fighting the fire from an aerial unit, known as a 'snorkel', which resembles a cherry picker.

Crews were trying to protect a crane on top of the building, which could topple over and fall across the road if it got too hot.

Firefighters were also inside the building on level 5 attacking the fire with hoses, nine metres below the fire.

In total, about 80 firefighters were at the scene on Tuesday night.

Purcell described the fire as 'unprecedented'. There hadn't been many like it in his 36 year career as a firefighter, he said.

He said it was always more difficult to fight a fire in a building which was under construction as fire systems were not working yet.

'The fire can spread from one place to another.'

The cause of the blaze remained unclear.

Purcell said he could not estimate the fire's exact size but it was 'very large'.