Small fire sees TVNZ evacuated, 6pm bulletin delayed

A small electrical fire this evening saw TVNZ's Auckland newsroom evacuated and 1News' 6pm bulletin delayed for half an hour.

Around 5:30, alarms sounded at the Hobson St building, 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.

Menzies said the building was evacuated as a precaution as crew, wearing breathing apparatus and using C02 extinguishers, tackled the blaze and staff were given the all-clear to enter shortly before 6.30.

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.

Earlier, TVNZ spokeswoman Georgie Hills confirmed staff had been evacuated about 5.30pm. She said while there was smoke, there were no indications of fire.

The news would be delayed and she apologised to viewers.

Fire service and Police deal with an incident at TVNZ. Photo / Michael Craig

When the TVNZ newsroom gets a fire alarm half an hour before the bulletin 🤷🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/5Ws6ut45J4

— Andrew Macfarlane (@andrewmacfnz) January 5, 2018

This week, ITV News in England had to stop broadcasting after staff were evacuated 20 minutes into the flagship News at Ten.

It happened in the middle of an item about Donald Trump's nuclear button.

Who burnt the toast at TVNZ?

— Dan News (@dannews) January 5, 2018