SkyCity Convention Centre fire: Photos show roof damage one week on

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

SkyCity chief executive Graeme Stephens reflects on the blaze and tells how the building evacuation left the precinct a ghost town.

New photos of the SkyCity Convention Centre roof show the fire just as it began and the damage caused by the blaze one week on.

On October 22, a large fire broke out on the construction site and continued to burn for days following.

Firefighters were still tackling flareups as of Monday night.

Technical architect Warren Davies said that around 1pm last Tuesday he noticed smoke in the street.

Firefighters fought the blaze at the Sky City Convention Centre for days.

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He quickly went up to the 28th floor of the Auckland Council building as he knew it had a good view of the convention centre.

'I saw there was a small corner of the roof on fire and looking at it, it looked like it was under control and the fire was going out so I took a photo of it.'

Davies said he then went back to his office on nearby Federal St and about three hours later, noticed the flames were getting bigger.

The damage to the SkyCity Convention Centre one week after the blaze began.

On Tuesday, he went back to the council building after working from home for the week.

He took another photo from the same location to see just how much the roof had changed.

Davies said 98 per cent of the roof appeared to be 'completely gone' and a lot of supporting structures seemed to be warped from the heat.

'There was quite an acrid smell that still remains in the area.'

Firefighters had done a 'good job' to save the crane that was on the site, he said.

Davies said he took the original photo last Tuesday as it appeared the fire would be out relatively quickly.

He didn't realise how big the fire would become and said he was surprised when it was still burning late into the night.

The investigation into the fire is ongoing as staff from 10 different organisations scour the site, but authorities continue to refuse to be drawn on what sparked the blaze.

Significant damage to the roof continues to hamper efforts to access the heart of the fire.

In a statement on Tuesday, Fire and Emergency New Zealand regional manager Ron Devlin said the last flare up happened about 6pm on Monday.

Electrician Lindsay Rowlands, who was working on the floor below the fire when it erupted, told Stuff it was understood a blow torch-type tool was being used on a rubber waterproofing membrane.

It was accidentally left on and unattended, which sparked the blaze, he said.

Authorities have not been drawn on those claims, also made by other workers on site at the time.