NZICC blaze began by blowtorch but accidental – FENZ

22nd April 2020 By Shannon Williams | shannon@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker

The blaze caused extensive damage to the already-delayed NZICC project. Image: FENZ

The fire at the New Zealand International Convention Centre in October was accidental, says Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

The blaze, which started on 22 October last year, further delayed the delivery of the beleaguered $703m convention centre and hotel project on Wellesley Street, Auckland.

“The official investigation into the cause and origin of the fire found it was inadvertently caused when the top layers of a waterproofing membrane – or cap sheet – were being laid on the roof of the convention centre,” said FENZ Te Hiku region manager Ron Devlin.

Devlin said speculation at the time that an inexperienced contractor caused the fire by leaving a blowtorch on before going to lunch was incorrect.

“This did not happen. Our investigators found all gas bottles around the origin of the fires were turned off for the lunch break. There were no inexperienced contractors working in the area at the time,” Devlin said.

“Our investigators concluded the fire started after the cardboard inner of a cap sheet roll was momentarily exposed to a flame from a worker’s gas torch and began to smoulder. After smouldering unnoticed inside the roll, an intense fire developed that burnt through the top layer of the cap sheet, and then spread across the level 7 roof membrane.”

Strong gusting winds then contributed to a rapid and significant spread of fire across the roof.

FENZ said it eliminated other possible causes of the blaze, including incendiary or deliberate lighting, and natural causes.

“The NZ International Convention Centre fire was a complex and dangerous fire and we have been focused on ensuring the investigation into its cause was comprehensive and accurately reflected what occurred on the afternoon of 22 October,” Devlin said.

He added that nn independent peer review agreed with FENZ’s findings and it was a significant step forward to have the cause and origin report completed.

FENZ was on the scene for 10 days with nearly 30 appliances and around 150 firefighters battling the blaze at its peak.

Work on the project remained stalled after contractor Fletcher Building undertook a programme to understand the scale of damage. No delivery date has been set.