Man arrested and charged with arson after fatal Wellington hostel fire
A man has been arrested and charged with two counts of arson following a fire that erupted in a Wellington, New Zealand boarding house this week, killing at least six people.
The man is due to appear in the Wellington District Court on Friday. Officers are not seeking anyone else in relation to the blaze, Inspector Dion Bennett said in a statement on Thursday.
“Police have not ruled out further, more serious charges in relation to the deaths at the scene,” Bennett said. The man has not been named.
His arrest followed the recovery by officers of the first two victims’ bodies from the charred hostel building on Thursday. There is not a definitive total of the number of people missing.
It was believed that “less than 20” residents were unaccounted for, including the six confirmed dead, Bennett said on Wednesday. None of those killed or missing have been formally named.
The blaze took hold after midnight on Tuesday at the 92-room hostel, which provided short and longterm accomodation. The residents of the building, called Loafers Lodge, included workers at the nearby hospital, tradespeople, many clients of Wellington’s social support agencies, and nine people under supervision by the Department of Corrections.
The blaze has prompted questions about the standards of New Zealand’s boarding houses and other accommodations used by the county’s most vulnerable people.
New Zealand’s prime minister Chris Hipkins on Wednesday said he had asked housing minister Megan Woods to examine building regulations to see if changes should be made.
“I’ve already asked officials to give me advice in terms of what we need to do to ensure that buildings are safe for New Zealanders,” Dr Woods told reporters on Wednesday, in response to questions about whether she would undertake a full review of the country’s building code.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the fire service, Kerry Gregory, on Thursday defended the organisation’s response to the blaze after claims in domestic news outlets that firefighters had lacked the equipment needed to tackle it.
“I want to reassure the public that fire and emergency are ready, able and capable of responding,” he told reporters, adding that 33 trucks and 80 firefighters had been sent to the scene and that firefighters had done an “excellent job”.
But the number of firefighters in New Zealand are “not where we need them to be”, Gregory added.
Gregory told reporters on Thursday that New Zealand’s fire service is working with ageing fleets – 27% of fire appliances are operating beyond their target life of 20-25 years – and stations that are not fit for purpose.
An operational review into how the fire was tackled will be launched, he said.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the building director of Loafers Lodge, Greg Mein, also defended the maintenance of the hostel.
“Myself, the management, the family … of the owner, everyone is just gutted by this. It’s just done us in completely,” he said.
Mein said a recent, routine building safety exam – confirmed by the City Council – showed “all the services are up to standard and … everything was aOK”.