Fire causes lunchtime evacuation from Wellington backpackers

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus put out a fire in a room containing mattresses on the sixth floor of Wellington's Downtown Backpackers, formerly the Waterloo Hotel, at lunchtime today.

Among guests who had to evacuate the Waterloo Quay building were members of the West Coast women's hockey team in Wellington for a national women's hockey tournament.

Coach Megan Sweeney said player Alicia Bell was still in the showers when the alarm sounded and had to hurriedly dress before leaving the building.

Another player was still been wearing pyjama pants while the team gathered outside the front of the Wellington central railway station as firefighters went into the hotel.

Most players had been watching television in a lounge or in a kitchen, waiting for a pre-match meeting, when they had to evacuate the building, Mrs Sweeney said.

The team had to postpone its planned 1.45pm game as their gear was still inside the building.

Front office manager Craig Reid said the evacuation had gone cleanly and everyone had got out of the building.

Because of the time the alarm was raised most guests had already left the hotel.

Incident controller Senior Station Officer Craig Campbell said no smoke had been visible outside the building when firefighters arrived but there had been smoke inside.

Eight staff wearing breathing apparatus had used water from an internal fire main to put out a fire on the sixth floor which contained mattresses.

Firefighters in 10 appliances went to the scene after the alarm was raised at noon.

- NZPA