Four young people were seen entering a derelict building in central Wellington yesterday shortly before it caught ablaze, police say.
Flames as high as 20m were seen as the empty building on Ghuznee St, near the intersection with Cuba St, spewed heavy smoke on Sunday afternoon.
The heritage-listed Ghuznee St building is Toomath’s, which was cordoned off as an earthquake risk in 2019. Nearby retailers have voiced their fears the fragile building would collapse in a quake.
Today police said they wanted to speak to witnesses of the fire, especially four young people seen going into the building before the blaze started.
“Police have been working with [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] this morning and are satisfied that no one was trapped in the building during the fire,” police said in a statement.