Auckland CBD getting back to normal

AUCKLAND: Auckland’s CBD is springing back to life after the SkyCity convention centre fire.

Central city roads were slowly starting to reopen yesterday around the International Convention Centre that burned for the previous three days.

Cordons around the almostfinished convention centre will remain around the building site’s perimeter, but they have been pulled back which means traffic should move better.

Some roads closures remained yesterday. They included parts of Wellesley St and Hobson St.

Some bus routes remain diverted but all cycleways are now open.

Fire and Emergency incident controller Craig Monrad told

Morning Report yesterday they would be taking stock of what happened overnight and resolving issues.

‘‘We scaled down the number of vehicles overnight as operations have quietened down quite significantly. There’s still a few hotspots flaring up.’’

Crews were working on two small flareups yesterday morning.

More firefighters would be brought in to enable a ‘‘quicker, more aggressive’’ approach in dealing with the aftermath.

Crews had been inside the building to douse the hotspots.

‘‘We’ve been through most of the building. There’s some areas where the roof’s collapsed through. Structurally, from an amateur’s perspective, it looks sounds to me — the roof is intact, the frame is holding up — so that will be assessed.’’

Mr Monrad said Fire and Emergency was working with Fletcher Building and Watercare to manage the water discharge. — RNZ