The number of confirmed deaths from this morning’s hostel fire in Wellington remains at six, as police say the cause of the blaze is unexplained.
Officials including police, Chief Coroner Judge Anna Tutton and Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau gave an update this afternoon after a blaze ripped through the Loafers Lodge hostel in Newtown overnight.
“At this stage, we have located six people. We’ve ensured the evidence and scene around them has been made safe,” Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) Assistant National Commander Bruce Stubbs said.
“We won’t know how those people perished until we work with police and our fire investigators to determine it with the Coroner."
Acting District Commander for Wellington Dion Bennett said police don’t believe the fire was deliberately lit.
Bennett asked people to not speculate on the cause, saying it was so far unexplained.
"We don't know what has caused the fire, hence the reason for the examination that is required now... this has been the early stages and as you can imagine, the priority has been to identify those people who were here last night and locate them.
“We require a full investigation.”
Bennett said police did not have a confirmed number of fatalities - the purpose of the extensive scene examination was to clarify that figure.
Stubbs said they had been unable to search all of the building due to extensive damage.
Bennett acknowledged the heroic efforts of Fenz personnel at the scene.
It was a "traumatic time for many whānau", he said.
He said police expected to enter the building tomorrow morning.
Bennett asked people to not speculate on the fire, saying it was so far unexplained, and investigative teams from around the country had been brought in to assist.
Police were yet to "fully reconcile" who was there and who was not.
"We urge anyone - family, friends or concerned people if you have information... to please phone the police 105 non-emergency number."
Tutton could not say how long identification would take.
"Identification can be a painstaking, slow process, particularly when people are injured."
"I appreciate that this is an unimaginably terrible time for those who have lost someone they love.
"It has been reported to the coroner that deaths have occurred as a result of the fire. Legally, the bodies of the victims of this tragedy are in the custody of the coroner. But as you have heard it hasn't yet been possible to recover them from the scene.
"Once recovery of the victims is possible, they will be treated with dignity and respect and where known, specific cultural needs will be followed to the greatest extent possible."
The bodies would be kept at a mortuary until they could be safely reunited with their families, Tutton said.
Safety check on building
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) this afternoon said six crews were at Loafers Lodge, including an Urban Search and Rescue Squad made up of technicians and drone operators.
The USAR squad was assessing the structural integrity of the building before further investigations start.
"Once we've gained access to the building following structural integrity process, we will work on mopping up hotspots to allow for the investigation process," Fenz district manager Nick Pyatt says.
He says Fenz will be working with police on investigations.
"At this stage any cause of the fire or any other details around the circumstances of the fire are cannot be confirmed."
At its peak, 29 crews - which amounts to more than 80 firefighters - attended the fire.
Police said their initial assessment was that the number of deaths was fewer than 10, but they could not be any more specific at this point.
Stories of survival emerge
A man has described the frightening moment he made the decision to jump out a third-storey window to flee the Wellington hostel fire that claimed the live of at least six people.
Friends and family of the 11 people still unaccounted for inside the charred hostel remain anxious for their loved ones.
Tala Sili told RNZ he saw smoke coming under his door at Loafers Lodge and opened it to find the hallway dark and black.
He decided then to jump out the window on to a roof two storeys below.
“I was on the top floor and I couldn’t go through the hallway because there was just too much smoke so I jumped out the window,” Tala Sili told RNZ
“It was just scary, it was really scary, but I knew I had to jump out the window or just burn inside the building.”
The fire was well-involved and firefighters battled the flames as they engulfed the building.
Resident Chris woke to a fire alarm and walked into the corridor but could not see anything amiss.
“But then it was the neighbour [shouting] ‘fire! fire!’ and the whole hallway was filled with smoke,” he said.
He ran to grab his phone.
“I was then thinking ‘what else do I grab’, but then was like ‘ah, f... this I’m out of here,” he recalled.
Grabbing his hat on the way out, Chris fell to the ground and began crawling out of his room, towards the stairway that would bring him to safety.
He was based on the other side of the floor to where the fire had sparked, residing fairly close to where the stairs were.
However, by the time Chris had left his room, smoke had already filled the building.
"It was hard to crawl as [there’s] only that much airspace on the ground. It was straight-up scary."
Just before 9am authorities confirmed six people had died and 30 were unaccounted for, though that number has since been lowered to 11.
'Our worst nightmare'
"This is our worst nightmare. It doesn’t get worse than this," said Wellington Fire and Emergency district manager Nick Pyatt.
"We were confronted with a challenging incident, you don’t get more challenging than this.
"(Firefighters) had to put their own lives at risk to get as many people out of there as possible."
Pyatt said crews were "heroic" and given the volume of people in the building the incident was particularly challenging.
"Our thoughts at this time are with the families of those who have perished and with our crews who valiantly rescued those and attempted to rescue those that they couldn’t," he said.
The hostel on Adelaide Road can house 92 people and but it was unclear how many were inside when the fire broke out.
FENZ Deputy National Commander Brendon Nally confirmed to NewstalkZB that there were no sprinklers in Loafers Lodge.
The cause of the fatal blaze would be investigated as well as claims that smoke alarms were not activated and whether or not the fire was deliberately lit.
Many of those living in the hostel were from the city’s transient community and one resident said a lot of others worked nights and were not home when the fire started.
A resident who was on the third floor told the Herald that many of those who lived on the top floors of the building were elderly.
A source told the New Zealand Herald that there were fatalities on all floors of the building.
"For the crews - it would’ve been pretty horrific. Flames coming out of a building with people inside is our worst nightmare," a firefighter told TVNZ’s Breakfast.
"But when you’re woken from your sleep - with alarms going [and] smoke - people would’ve been pretty emotive trying to escape.
Resident Warren Holdaway said as soon as the smell of the smoke hit his nose, he sprinted out of the building.
"It is a big building and it was right down the end from me when I opened my bedroom door I could smell the smoke," he said.
"It took me 15-20 seconds to get out of the building from where I was. I was only just down the corridor from a stairwell."
When he got outside his first thought was: "it really is on fire".
"Fire and emergency services were still arriving when I came out of the building. There was smoke coming out of the building," he said.
"Fire brigade got themselves set up and then the flames burst through the roof, the windows.
He said aside from the loss of lives, one of the most heartbreaking things was the looming loss of community.
"Whatever people said about that building, it was our home," he said.
"And now we’re all going to be split up into different motels and hotels, and that community will never be together again"
A resident who lives on the third floor said he believed there could have been two fires in the building this morning.
The man told Breakfast he opened his door to see thick black smoke and people yelling for help.
The man said he left his room then - grabbing his phone and vape - but leaving with no shoes.
Nally told NewstalkZB he was at a loss of words to describe incident.
"It is horrendous. I heard the Mayor and she put it beautifully this is a tragic and out-of-scale event that we can’t get our minds around," he said.
"It will affect a lot of people for a long time including firefighters who wanted to save everyone but unfortunately that hasn’t been able to happen.
"I am proud of them and the incredible work they did today."
"We have a list of people who we believe were in the building that night which we got from the building owners. There are 20 names we are still trying to find," he said.
"Residents could have gone to the facility in Newtown or at friends and whānau so I don’t want to get into speculation."
When asked whether there could be someone alive in the building still, Nally said it was not possible.
"We have firefighters who did a fantastic job and have been at every part of the building where someone could be alive," he explained.
"First responding crews said it was a dense, hot fire.
"Residents started to evacuate, and firefighters helped. They did an outstanding job."
Firefighters rescued people from directly above the roof, "above the fire, saving lives", Nally said.
"We got as many out as possible. We are dealing with a building with asbestos and partial collapse.
"We are being diligent and methodical to deal with this building. The fire spread on all floors one specifically was the worst affected."
Nally said fire crews had struggled to gain access.
"With that many residents (coming out)... no sprinklers. There was heavy smoke, but firefighters did a fantastic job."
Nally said the building’s structural damage was of concern - including the fear of roof falling in.
" With the amount of heat in the building it has impacted the structure," he said.
"We have USAR people to assist us."
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins described today’s deadly fire as "tragic".
"Our thoughts will be with all of the firefighters involved and all the victims of today’s tragedy," he told Breakfast.
"It’s a really tragic situation.
"For now I want to particularly acknowledge the firefighters who have put themselves in harm’s way over past hours to get people out of the building and put the fire out.
"The focus right now is supporting our firefighters to get the situation stabilised, get the people out of the building and put the fire out."
Loafers Lodge Property Manager Murray Murphy told the Herald they were "very sad".
"I don’t live at the lodge. I was called just after midnight about the fire. Firefighters are still here.
"I just found out from a reliable source that there have been several fatalities."
Tenants had been moved to Newtown Park stadium so they were all together, Murphy said.
"Wellington District Council is also helping the ones who have no family here to get temporary accommodation."
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said on Breakfast the situation was the city’s "worst nightmare."
"I’m devastated," she said.
She said the fatal blaze was "a shock to the system" and she was visibly emotional during interviews.
"I’m feeling a lot of pain and emotion at those who have been lost," she said.
Whanau said people who had "made it out" have been offered accommodation services and will continued to be offered those services.
She acknowledged there were various kinds of people who were staying at the lodge at the time - including "vulnerable" people.
It was later confirmed a relief fund was being prepared for those impacted by the tragic fire.
- additional reporting RNZ
