Lives feared lost in blaze

Firefighters expect the Cashel Chambers fire will take days to put out because walls must be levelled to reach burning rubble. Picture / Simon Baker

Police cannot say how many people might be missing after fire destroyed a historic Christchurch building used by the homeless, and the site is too dangerous to search by hand.

Urban search and rescue dogs called in to hunt for bodies in the rubble yesterday found what one handler called a "spot of interest", but authorities cannot search thoroughly until the debris is extinguished and more stable.

Parts of the large building were still burning yesterday but its historic listing and designation as a crime scene meant the Fire Service was prevented from instantly demolishing it to properly quell the smouldering debris.

The three-storey building, which stretches for almost an entire block in central Christchurch, was a derelict rabbit warren of offices used mainly by the homeless.

Some were seen fleeing when the Fire Service first arrived at noon on Sunday, although one woman was so intoxicated she was unable to walk and had to be rescued just as the flames destroyed the area she was in.

Yesterday Christchurch Detective Sergeant Ken Legat said there was a possibility people had died.

"We know there was possibly of up to 15 people in the building. We've identified a number of them, some of them we've spoken to, others we haven't been able to speak to.

"We don't know if it's because they are still in the building or because they've just disappeared.

"We have another problem in that this was used by a variety of groups and people and we don't know how many were actually in the building at the time of the fire," Mr Legat said.

"These people go by street names and nicknames and when people talk about someone, they may be talking about someone totally different.

"So we're working through all the statements and identifying all the nicknames and then trying to identify those people and that's going to take a couple of days."

It will take days to put the fire out properly as the Fire Service must knock down walls to get to the burning rubble.

But that will require an Environment Court decision to over-rule the building's historic listing. The Fire Service was waiting for that decision last night.

Roadblocks in the central city were extended last night after the search dogs had been through the site, disrupting the one-way system and causing major traffic delays.

But concerns that the building might collapse meant the public had to be kept as far away as possible for their own safety, said Deputy Chief Fire Officer Greg Crawford.

Arson is suspected.