22 Oct 2019

SkyCity fire: Black smoke billows from convention centre blaze

From Checkpoint, 5:10 pm on 22 October 2019

Fire crews from across Auckland are battling a massive blaze at SkyCity's embattled Convention Centre on Tuesday evening.

The blaze broke out just at around 1pm, sending flames into the sky and causing huge plumes of smoke to cover the Auckland CBD.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the surrounding area and traffic came to a standstill.

It's yet another setback for the Convention Centre, which is already two years behind its completion date. There is concern that the fire may push that schedule back even further.

More than 20 fire trucks rushed from across Auckland - some as far as Hamilton - to battle the blaze on Tuesday afternoon.

"It's a very difficult fire to put out, we've been here for a number of hours now and we're not on top of the fire," Fire and Emergency's Dave Woon says.

He says there were no injuries, and one person was unaccounted for but they are not a concern.

The fire shut down parts of Wellesley, Hobson and Nelson streets in the Auckland CBD.

Chaotic scenes coincided with the lunchtime rush, with hundreds of people gathering to watch the drama unfold.

Nearby Quest Motel manager Harsh Khanna saw the fire take hold, watching the scene from his balcony.

"It took a good 20-25 minutes before the firefighters could actually get up there... It was quite scary."

It is yet more bad news for SkyCity's $700 million convention centre and hotel project which has been plagued by problems, including cost over-runs and construction delays.

The complex is being built by Fletcher Construction and SkyCity and had been scheduled to open late next year - but Tuesday's fire is yet another setback.

"It's just been one of those jinxed projects really which has just got delays after delays, I really hope it goes faster," Mr Khanna says.

Share prices for Fletchers and SkyCity both dropped after the fire.

SkyCity says it does not know the source of the fire at this stage and is assessing the situation and the damage.