SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre blaze: Flames could continue through Thursday evening

Thursday, 24 October 2019

Firefighters subdue the SkyCity convention centre blaze in October 2019.

A large inferno at the SkyCity Convention Centre is under control, although small pockets of flames continue to erupt.

Fire and Emergency NZ area commander Richard Twomey said firefighters had the fire under control by about 7am on Thursday, some 40 hours after the blaze broke out.

However, although the fire was under control, it was not out and there remained hot spots and flare ups. About 2pm flames were again visible, with thick smoke drifting across neighbouring streets.

Fire crews continue to dampen down hotspots at the Sky Convention Centre blaze.

Twomey said earlier in the day that the site was still smouldering 'to the point where if the wind gets ahold of it could turn into a flame', adding the situation could continue through Thursday evening.

Firefighters spend a third day tackling the Sky City Convention Centre blaze.

* 'Am I being poisoned?': Downtown Aucklanders suffer in the SkyCity fire smoke

* SkyCity Convention Centre fire: How fire will affect your commute on Thursday**

The fire at SkyCity Convention Centre is under control but not out. Fire crews were inspecting the roof top on Thursday morning.

The fire at the SkyCity convention centre started on Tuesday afternoon.

There were still 75 firefighters working on site.

St John Ambulance had treated four firefighters in total, all with minor injuries.

Work was underway to pump out the water flooding the basement and trying to get the roads open.

FENZ said at 1pm that over the next few days firefighters would be undertaking the 'overhaul phase'.

'This involves turning over the ash and debris within the building, looking for hot spots and damping down any we find.'

Firefighters expected to move into mop up operations on Thursday.

It was not known how long this process would take.

Millions of litres of water used to extinguish the fire had resulted in several basement layers, including carparks, being flooded, to the point where cars were completely covered in the lowest level.

Specialist rescue workers and a large crane had been brought in to help tackle the blaze.

FENZ area commander Murray Binning said 400 cars remained trapped in the conference centre car park across four floors, one of which was badly flooded with cars submerged up to their windows.

A SkyCity spokesperson said fewer than 100 cars were affected, all belonging to SkyCity employees. The spokesperson said the company would cover the costs of water damage to the cars.

The flames on top of the convention centre as of 4am on Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, Fire and Emergency NZ and SafeSwim said the water would be pumped into the harbour through Auckland's stormwater network.

A hazard alert had been issued for St Marys Bay.

Firefighters have been working around the clock to battle the large blaze.

Earlier on Thursday morning, FENZ said 'the fire has significantly reduced in size and we expect to move into mop up operations later today'.

Specialist rescue workers and a large crane had been brought in on Thursday morning to tackle the remaining flames.

Good Times Coffee owner Paul Ewing sent his staff home at 3pm on Tuesday due to toxic smoke making the Federal St cafe 'hazy'.

Road closures remained in the areas that surrounded the convention centre in Auckland's CBD and public health officials warned people to stay away.

Speaking to TVNZ, Fire and Emergency regional manager Ron Devlin said the fire had slowed down overnight.

People are wearing face masks as they travel in the CBD to stop breathing in the toxic smoke.

Devlin said the roof of the building was not burning in the way a normal roof would and that 'it's quite a complex piece of work'.

He said it was still too early to say what damage had been done to the building.

'Our priority right now is to get those hot spots out.

'It'll probably be a couple more days before the road around it reopens.'

Businesses in the area had been affected too – some choosing to close their doors until the fire was out.

Mayor Phil Goff said the priority was to dampen down the fire hotpots and get investigators in to do their job as soon as possible.

Talking to RNZ, Goff said the structure had coped reasonably well with the fire.

Goff said he had been working on contingency plans for alternative locations for the APEC event.

Auckland Transport has warned motorists and people taking public transport to expect diversions and significant delays.

There were still road closures on Wellesley St (west from Victoria to Nelson and between Nelson and Hobson), Nelson St (between Cook and Victoria) and Hobson St (between Victoria and Wellesley) , AT said.

It advised people to avoid the city centre areas and not to stop and take photographs of the fire, and suggested anyone travelling to the city centre avoid peak hour traffic, leave extra time and check the Auckland Transport website, Facebook or Twitter for updates.

AT have advised anyone who can to work from home, or a non-central location, or start work at a later time.

AT staff in orange hi-vis vests were dotted around various bus stops in the city to direct passengers to alternative places to catch the bus.

The city bus services that are still affected by detours are: NX2, 101, 22A, 22N, 22R, 221X, 223X, 24B, 24R, 24W, 243X, and 248X bus.

Detours were also required for 82, 802, 923, and 924, as well as 75 bus services.

Further detours were required for 18, 151X, 171X, 172X, 195X, and 209 bus services, as well as 105 and 106 services.

The Outer Link bus service was also affected.