SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre blaze: Crews 'still firefighting' more than 70 hours on

Friday, 25 October 2019

Firefighters on roof of sky city convention centre

Emergency services said they were 'still firefighting' at Auckland's SkyCity Convention Centre – three full days since the blaze broke out.

Fire and Emergency NZ said it was now in the 'investigation phase' of its operation which involved using drones to identify hotspots.

Authorities also warned that some roads near the fire-hit building remained closed and it was unclear when they would reopen.

The fire service gave an update to media shortly before midday on Friday, more than 70 hours after the fire took hold on the roof of the seven-storey building.

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

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Incident controller Dave Woon hailed the men and women who had worked long hours to battle the flames, as well as their families.

The SkyCity Convention Centre fire is now under control but there will still be flames visible for a while.

'I'd really like to convey my thanks to my fellow commanders and to firefighters. They've done an outstanding job.'

But he warned they 'still have active firefighting' and there were 'pockets of flames' to deal with.

Nick Vigar, Auckland Council safeswim programme manager, also issued an update, saying water quality test results had come back.

He said contamination was low enough that the water could be treated at its normal wastewater treatment plant with no impact on Manukau harbour.

Seventy firefighters worked on keeping charred remains damp overnight on Thursday.

'That's relieves our immediate concerns about water quality in the harbour.'

Contamination from runoff was also low, he said, but he stopped short of saying there was no risk to harbour.

Fletcher Construction cranes were being lent to the job.

The massive fire burning at SkyCity's Cconvention Centre has dampened down but fire crews are still battling flames and flare-ups.

He advised people to treat the water as hazardous pending toxicology results next week.

Life around the site is starting to return to normal, with the Sky Tower reopening on Friday.

There had been two small flare-ups at the Convention Centre on Friday morning, which were described as being 'expected from time to time'.

At the height of the blaze, 140 firefighters were on the scene. That was down to 70 overnight into Friday.

FENZ and AT were looking to reduce the cordons around the building by opening some lanes on Friday morning - but commuters were warned the delays weren't over.

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

Firefighters are now in the 'recovery phase' of the fire, which meant locating and extinguishing hot spots.

It was likely cordons immediately around the building on Wellesley, Nelson and Hobson Streets would continue for some time. The agencies were yet to determine when they could be lifted.

AT was still recommending people in the city centre avoid peak hour traffic and leave extra time, following two days of major morning congestion in the CBD. Spokesperson John Nottage said: 'The city is still open for business, but if you are able to time your travel to avoid peak hour traffic, by leaving earlier or later than usual, we advise you to do so.'

Meanwhile in the convention centre's basement, where 100 cars belonging to SkyCity staff members were parked, it was believed the run-off water had reached a depth of a metre of a half.

There had been concerns the water was too toxic for the city's wastewater system to handle and it would have to be discharged into the harbour.

But on Thursday, the 8 million litres of water in the basement had been deemed safe enough to be pumped into the wastewater system rather than straight out to sea.

SkyCity said its casino had reopened on Thursday at 8pm, the Sky Tower would reopen at 9am on Friday, and the SkyCity Hotel and SkyCity Grand Hotel would open at 3pm on Friday.

It was revealed on Thursday that a crane operator with a bird's eye view of the roof made the first call to emergency services when the SkyCity Convention Centre fire started.

Construction workers claimed the fire started when an unattended blow torch ignited flammable material on the roof.

A St John spokesman said no one from the scene of the fire had been injured or taken to hospital on Thursday. Since the fire started on Tuesday, two firefighters have been treated by St John.

One was taken to hospital in a serious condition after suffering an unrelated medical event on Tuesday and another was taken to hospital in a moderate condition after they were struck by a piece of falling roof on Wednesday.