A brief timeline of the key events during the tragic Loafers Lodge fire in Wellington. Video / NZ Herald
The Wellington hostel which was set on fire last week, killing at least five people, had a damaged front door and had previously been targeted by disgruntled former tenants, a resident says.
Loafers Lodge caught fire shortly after midnight on Tuesday, with the ensuing blaze killing multiple people as firefighters rushed to put out the flames.
The number of people killed is still not known as investigators sift through the debris left behind, but police have so far recovered five bodies.
A resident of the hostel said just weeks before the deadly fire, which police said was caused by arson, previously-evicted tenants had been returning to the building to cause damage and harass other residents.
The resident said the front door had been kicked in by vandals, so had a sign on it telling residents to only use the side entrance.
Despite this, he said people could still get out of the broken door, but he believed many residents thought they could not due to the signage.
The man also said a few weeks prior “there was a lot of incidents going from some previous tenants, that had been evicted prior to the fire, damaging the building and harassing the tenants”.
He would not go into specific detail about the damage and harassment but said there had been multiple incidents, prompting more security measures to be put in place.
The Herald contacted the building director, Gregory Mein, about the issues with previous tenants and the damaged door, but he refused to comment.
The Herald reported last week the Fire Service had expressed concerns about the building and did not support a building consent application for an extension to the hostel.
Loafers Lodge director Gregory Mein. Photo / George Heard
A 2006 memo shows the Fire Service was worried about the escape route to the building’s second staircase because sleeping occupants would have to make their way through the dining room, kitchen, and lounge area to get to it.
The Fire Service listed several other issues including that the building effectively functioned like a hotel. It questioned the “level of cooperation and mutual assistance” of the occupants in the event of a fire.
A 2007 memo from the Fire Service said the council should reject the consent application. It said it had not seen evidence that the concerns raised in 2006 had been addressed.
At the time of the fire, the building had passed a recent Warrant of Fitness, but did not have sprinklers and was not required to.
A 48-year-old man has been charged with two counts of arson over the fire.
He appeared in court on Friday and was granted interim name suppression before being remanded in custody to reappear in court in June.
