Hot spots monitored as fire’s cause probed
Firefighting bosses say investigations into the blaze at SkyCity’s $700 million Convention Centre may take weeks to complete.
Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) assistant area commander Dave Woon yesterday 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 ravaged building. But with the situation well in hand, multiple probes could now begin. ‘‘The city is open. We are trying to reduce the footprint of our operations,’’ Woon said.
So, what next?
AGENCIES, INSURERS BEGIN INVESTIGATIONS
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 are 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 is very hard to say because there are a number of insurance investigators, and so on,’’ Shaw said.
‘‘It is a very technical case [and] there is 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 Building 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 will be part of the investigation.’’
MONSTER CLEANUP 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 the fire is burning you have got a whole lot of crevasses, you have got a whole lot of joins in timbers, you have 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.’’
The cleanup 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 hot spots. We use thermal imaging, we use all sorts of tools that 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 have 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 put them out.’’
‘‘We are working as hard as we possibly can to find all of those hot spots.’’ Mike Shaw
Fire and Emergency NZ assistant area commander
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, 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 extend 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 $90 million into Auckland’s economy annually.
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 blowtorches.
‘‘Effectively, a blowtorch’s heat is applied to the bitumen to do the joint seals, so that is where we think the issue occurred.’’