Youths spotted running from fire
‘‘As I pulled up they were coming out, aged between 10 and 15, there were five of them.’’
The woman who alerted emergency services to a burning building in Cannons Creek saw a group of youths run from the property minutes before it went up in flames.
Porirua local Rose Daymond was working at a laundromat at 2 Mentor Lane, a few metres away from the building at 10 Bedford Court, on the night of the fire on March 25.
As she arrived at the laundromat, she saw five young people run out of the entrance just after 10pm, eight minutes before smoke started coming from the building.
‘‘As I pulled up they were coming out, aged between 10 and 15, there were five of them. I’m not saying that they started it because there’s no proof.
‘‘I went in [to the laundromat], then went to get the keys out the back and then I saw the smoke.
‘‘I didn’t have my phone on me, and the smoke was getting bigger, and then I went in the laundromat and all I heard was this ’bang, crackle’.’’
She went to resident Donna Mikaere’s house across the street to call the fire service.
She was still shaken up by the ordeal but felt lucky to have escaped unharmed.
‘‘The flames were so hot, you could feel them. It’s not something I ever want to experience again. If I hadn’t seen that smoke and I’d just carried on cleaning, and I always go over this, that could have been me gone.’’
Mikaere witnessed the flames growing as the fire service arrived at the scene. ‘‘It was horrendous. It was just out of control.’’
Mikaere saw fire and police vehicles arrive minutes after the call was made.
‘‘There was about six fire engines to start off with and then they had a couple of police cars, one of them was a paddy wagon that had tracker dogs in there.’’
The building is owned by Wellington landlord Naginbhai Patel.
He was obviously distressed as he surveyed the charred remains of his building on Monday, just hours after the fire was extinguished. ‘‘It feels terrible. I’m very disappointed.’’
More than 40 firefighters and eight fire engines were needed to control the blaze after the first emergency call was received at 10.53pm.
Fire and Emergency shift manager Mike Wanoa said fire crews arrived at the scene at 10.59pm.
A police representative said the cause of the fire is was not yet known but foul play had not been ruled out.
The building, formerly the site of the Graffiti Bar, was previously the subject of a court dispute when Patel attempted to procure a liquor licence for the property.
More than 1900 signatures were collected in protest at the application, and Patel had since repurposed the space as a community event centre.
The Vishnu Trust, which represents Patel, said ‘‘care, love and creativity were all poured into the venue, and everyone involved has been completely devastated by what has happened.
‘‘Right now the trust is concentrating on clean up, but they have never and will never let the site become derelict. Whatever is done in the future, the same goal will be kept: doing something that the people of Cannons Creek can be proud of.’’