Seven Sharp goes off air during fire alarm evacuations

The news and current affairs programme had to be taken off-air. Photo / TVNZ

TVNZ's popular news and current affairs programme Seven Sharp was cut short tonight following a fire alarm which led to evacuations of its studios.

Staff were evacuated from the building on Victoria St West around 7.20pm after a kitchen appliance overheated and caused smoke to rise.

TVNZ spokeswoman Georgie Hills said there was no fire and staff were allowed to re-enter the building around 10 to 15 minutes later.

One of Seven Sharp's presenters, Hilary Barry, took to Twitter to announce the show had been taken off-air due to an evacuation.

"OMG we're live on air and evacuating because of fire alarm. Sorry viewers," she said.

OMG we're live on air and evacuating because of fire alarm. Sorry viewers.

— Hilary Barry (@Hilary_Barry) May 14, 2019

Meanwhile, unaware and concerned Facebook users announced their distress at the show being taken off air and being replaced by a gardening show.

"Why is a gardening programme on in the middle of Seven Sharp?" one woman asked.

"Umm what just happened to the last part of the show?? We went to an add break and then we got to watch someone plant trees etc but no end of your show?" asked another.

Tonight’s broadcast interruption was brought to you by a fire alarm. Even live TV shows aren’t exempt from having to exit the building! We’ll be back on your screens at 7pm tomorrow ✨

Posted by Seven Sharp on Tuesday, 14 May 2019

"So what happened to the end of Seven Sharp? We were waiting to see Jeremy's stint in the shower and we got a gardening segment instead, we are not happy, luckily I know what it was about but not the point," one said.

"What on earth happened to Seven Sharp tonight?. One minute advertising break ... Next minute a gardening show ... What on earth happened," said another.

However, TVNZ later explained the show was taken off air due to a fire alarm which had caused evacuations in their studios.

"Because of a fire alarm, we're evacuating our studios. We'll return to our scheduled programme as soon as possible," they screened.

Hills said TVNZ wanted to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the disruption and said lessons would be learnt from the incident.

No staff members were injured in the evacuation.

Seven Sharp hosts Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells. Photo / Supplied

Last year, a small electrical fire saw TVNZ's Auckland newsroom evacuated and 1News' 6pm bulletin delayed for half an hour.

In that instance, alarms sounded at the Hobson St building about 5.30pm, sending scores of staff onto the streets where they huddled under their umbrellas until the all-clear was given.

Fire and Emergency NZ assistant area commander Glenn Menzies said the fire was located in the server room.

He said it was small, and had been contained to one room, but produced a lot of black smoke that spread to other rooms.

A total of nine appliances and 32 firefighters were at the TVNZ Auckland headquarters.
Police were also called to the incident and Victoria St West was closed between Hobson St and Nelson St as the fire was extinguished.

The bulletin started half an hour late, with host Greg Boyed explaining the delay had been caused by the evacuation.