Golden Glow Motel goes up in flames in Rotorua

Thursday, 30 December 2021

The cause of a fire that ripped through a Rotorua motel is unknown.

The Golden Glow Motel on Rotorua’s Fenton St has gone up in flames.

Five Fire and Emergency trucks were at the scene on Thursday morning and police had blocked off a large section of road.

When Stuff arrived on the scene smoke was billowing out of the motel and the top floors appeared to have been gutted.

Fire and emergency shift manager Josh Pennefather told Stuff they were contacted at around 11.20am with “reports of a building on fire”.

The top floor of the motel appeared to have been gutted by the fire.

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He said the information they had was that no-one was in the building at the time, and he said it was too early to talk about possible causes of the fire.

A police spokesperson also confirmed “no reported injuries at this stage”.

“Enquiries are still ongoing as police and fire emergency are still on scene.”

The Golden Glow Motel is among the motels currently being used to house Ministry of Social Development clients, and MSD regional commissioner Mike Bryant said 11 clients were staying at the motel.

“We are in contact with them and working to arrange alternative accommodation as soon as possible,” he said.

“Everyone who needs it has somewhere to stay tonight.

“We will work with those affected to ensure appropriate alternate accommodation is provided. If required we will also connect them to a provider that can provide further wrap-around support.”