SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre fire: Investigators, insurers move in to inspect decimated building

Friday, 25 October 2019

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

Firefighting bosses say investigations into the blaze at SkyCity's $700 million Convention Centre could take weeks to complete.

Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) Assistant Area Commander Dave Woon on Friday said 'active firefighting' to dampen down pockets of flames was still ongoing three days after the fire started.

Crews were also busy removing roofing iron from the flame-ravaged building.

But with the situation well in hand, multiple probes could now begin.

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Officers are remain in active firefigthing mode to dampen down hotspots, but investigations into the cause of the blaze have commenced.

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'The city is open. We are trying to reduce the footprint of our operations,' Woon said.

So, what next?

AGENCIES, INSURERS BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS

Auckland Council and Fire and Emergency managers brief media at the scene of the Sky City fire on Friday.

FENZ Assistant Area Commander Mike Shaw, who is leading the recovery team, said a 'large number' of investigation teams from various organisations were set to begin working inside the building.

Operations outside the building would now wind down.

'Everyone kind of does a separate investigation – we are the lead on it, we need to determine the cause,' Shaw said.

'But we're in conjunction with the other people, Fletcher and the insurance companies obviously that are working with Fletcher and things.'

FENZ's investigation would focus particularly on the cause and spread of the blaze.

As for how long the probes would take, who knows?

'It's very hard to say because there's a number of insurance investigators, et cetera,' Shaw said.

'It's a very technical case [and] there's a lot involved – it may take a couple of days, it may take a week.'

Auckland Civil Defence, Auckland Transport, Auckland Regional Public Health Service, Watercare, Auckland Council, Worksafe NZ and Fletcher would all be involved in reviews, Shaw said.

Despite multiple reports the fire was caused by a blowtorch being used on the convention centre's roof, Shaw was not prepared to expand on what ignited the blaze.

'I don't really want to get into where the fire started, or how the fire started,' he said.

'It's something that'll be part of the investigation.'

SkyCity chief executive Graeme Stephens, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Fletcher Building boss Ross Taylor front a media conference. Both companies will now carry out insurance investigations.

MONSTER CLEAN-UP EFFORT AWAITS

Shaw said it was 'very hard to say' how long it would take to clean up the mangled convention centre.

'If you can imagine, when fire's burning you've got a whole lot of crevasses, you've got a whole lot of joins in timbers, you've got a whole lot of little pockets,' he said.

'And all you need is a little hot spot to sit there, it can sit there for a couple of days and it can flare up with a bit of wind.'

SkyCity's boss says the fire ravaged convention centre will rise like a phoenix from the ashes. And the goals of the casino operator and Fletcher Building remain the same - to finish an iconic building for Auckland - and New Zealand.

The clean-up would begin once hot spots had been dampened down, a process which could take a 'very long time'.

'But we are working as hard as we possibly can to find all of those hotspots,' Shaw said Friday.

'We use thermal imaging, we use all sorts of tools that'll help us with that.'

The scale of damage was not unprecedented, but Shaw said the setting – effectively still a construction site – was 'very, very large' and 'quite complex'.

'The way we've had to fight it has been a bit different to what we would normally do – we don't usually wait for things to burn, we usually out them out.'

SKYCITY, FLETCHER COVERED

SkyCity boss Graeme Stephens has said it was 'virtually impossible' to understand the economic impact of the damage, as well as the delay to the centre's opening.

However, the SkyCity's insurance policies included 'loss of profit' clauses.

'This would be the first time in the company's history that everything was shut. We have insurance policies and they would expend to the project itself,' he said.

Fletcher Building has said contract works and third party liability insurances were in place on the project.

The convention centre was expected to inject at least $90m dollars into Auckland's economy annually.

Firefighters batter flames coming from the roof of the SkyCity Convention Centre during the blaze's first day.

Two large medical conferences worth $11m were among six scheduled for next year, but construction delays had already seen a number bumped to other Auckland venues such as the Aotea Centre.

THE WORKER AND THE BLOWTORCH

Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor has indicated the fire started on part of the convention centre's roof where contractors were using blow torches.

'Effectively there's blowtorch's heat applied to the bitumen to do the joint seals, so that's where we think the issue occurred.'

Meanwhile, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has said that torches being used by workers on the convention centre were likely to have started the fire.

So what happens to the person, or persons, using the torch?

Stuff contacted a number of legal minds for their opinions.

Jeff Walters, a director at K3 Legal, said there would be insurance in place to help cover the cost of the fire's damage.

But he said there could be questions about liability more broadly.

'It will all depend on the wording of the insurance policy,' he said.

'I am aware that there are some insurance policies that limit the extent to which public liability will respond to physical damage. It is possible that Fletchers has a broader policy.

'Most construction will require a public liability cover and will specify an insured sum. They may want to review the cover. It may say cover for all usual events, but whether or not people dig that extra layer deeper is questionable.'

With a lot of businesses affected and productivity lost, Walters added: 'You would expect there will be claims and there will probably be legal action taken.'

Crossley Gates, a partner at Keegan Alexander, said if the fire was due to a 'hapless contractor with a blow torch', then the liability would be on the contractor, rather than on Fletcher.