AS SACRED MAORI BUILDING GOES UP IN FLAMES
Sleeping children inside it make a lucky escape
Agroup of children narrowly escaped a ferocious blaze that completely destroyed a sacred building that had been dubbed a ‘death trap’ due to its fire risk. Almost every fire crew in Wellington, on New Zealand’s North Island, were called to Tapu Te Ranga Marae at about 12.30am Sunday, as a fire tore through the multi-storey building.
The marae, which is a sacred meeting house for Maori communities in New Zealand, had 28 sleeping children, aged eight to 11, staying the night at the time.
The children were on an educational trip with their Scout
group when the supervising adults were awoken to the smell of smoke.
The group managed to flee before flames began to engulf the building.
‘The building was well and truly engulfed by the time they were down the road,’ group leader Hadyn Nicholls told Stuff.
Scouts New Zealand chief executive Joshua Tabor said the quick-thinking by the adults at the scene had ‘undoubtedly saved 28 lives’.
One firefighter was taken to hospital after injuring his hand while battling the blaze, acting senior station officer Selwyn Cubis said.
By Sunday morning most of the multi-storey structure had been destroyed.
Among the ash and rubble were the remains of the Scout group’s uniforms and badges as the children escaped with the the clothes on their backs.
Firefighters worked until 3am to get the fire under control and continued throughout the morning putting out hotspots.
The group were incredibly lucky to have escape as it has been revealed that parts of the building had been closed off from the public due fire risk.
Wellington Council spokesman Richard had even previously labelled the building a ‘death trap’.
‘A number of the buildings on the site have been built or altered without consent. Inspections last year found a number of major problems - including serious fire risk, lack of safe escape routes and structural problems,’ Mr Maclean told RNZ in 2016.
‘If you wanted to be uncharitable you could call it a death trap.’
However, despite the devastating blaze, the trust that operates the marae have vowed to rebuild.
A Givealittle page has been created to help fund the rebuild.
Tapu Te Ranga Marae was built in the 1970s with the intention of helping the homeless, unemployed and troubled youth.
It was built using recycled materials such as wood from crates.