Inside SkyCity Convention Centre fire: latest images show scale of damage from Auckland blaze

Friday, 25 October 2019

Video footage shows flooding inside the SkyCity Convention Centre after the fire.

Startling new images from inside the SkyCity Convention Centre during a massive fire which is still burning three days on show the scale of the damage caused.

Photographs supplied by Fire and Emergency NZ show huge holes in the ceiling of the under-construction seven-storey building, which started on the roof at 1.15pm on Tuesday.

While the physical roof structure remains in tact, the images show part of the ceiling in the building's Plenary Theatre has collapsed.

A view of the Plenary Theatre main floor above which part of the roof has fallen in.

Its Wellesley St Gallery on level three of the building is flooded with water used by firefighters to tackle the blaze, which is under control but is still burning.

Smoke pours into the damaged SkyCity convention centre from above before a flare up takes hold of the collapsed ceiling on Thursday. (First published in October, 2019)

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

* Hazard alert issued as eight million litres of filthy water from Auckland SkyCity fire pumped into harbour

The ceiling in the Plenary Theatre on level 5 has collapsed.

* SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre fire: Video shot inside shows roof destroyed**

Releasing the latest photos, fire incident controller Dave Woon said crews were still tackling an 'active' fire, which still consisted of pockets of flames.

The number of aerial appliances tackling the blaze has dropped from six to one but six fire pumps remain at the scene, along with a drone using thermal imaging cameras to look for hot spots.

Wellesley St Gallery on level 3 of the building before entering the exhibition floor has been flooded by water used to tackle the blaze.

Woon added firefighters had now moved into the investigation phase of the operation.

Mike Shaw, who is leading the FENZ fire recovery team, said: 'We are still firefighting. We will be here for a bit longer,' but he added crews were trying to shrink their footprint in the area.

Shaw said crews were working with other agencies, including Auckland Transport and Civil Defence to 'put the city back together again', but said it was too soon to say how long recovery and investigation efforts would take.

'We're not saying that we're going to be at this stage in another week but … it's very hard to say,' he said.

Shaw said engineers had also been consulted and were assessing what impact the large volume of water that had pooled on floors beneath the roof would have on the structure.

'We're confident the building is structurally sound,' he added.