By Lucy Xia of RNZ
Residents of a fire-damaged Auckland apartment block have been allowed to return home despite structural damage to the building.
A fire in a pile of rubbish in the carpark of Kings Square Apartments on Broadway in the suburb of Newmarket damaged a beam on Tuesday evening, which in turn undermined shop fronts on the ground floor.
Braces had to be installed by Urban Search and Rescue teams to keep the building structurally sound.
Fire and Emergency said it believed the fire was deliberately lit, and a number of people near the scene told RNZ they heard an explosion after seeing a group of young people running from the car park.
The fire sent smoke billowing across Newmarket and forced an evacuation of the train station.
About 100 residents and shop owners in the seven-story building were allowed back late Tuesday night.
The Newmarket Business Association said security guards were stationed on every floor during the night in case another evacuation needed to happen.
RNZ understands this is also due to the continued power and water outages in the building which left people with no fire protection from sprinklers and alarm systems overnight.
An elderly couple living on the third floor said it was a frightening experience when they saw the smoke rising from below.
“I’m over 70 and my husband’s over 80, when we heard the alarm we had to come down, we were running downstairs and panicking, my heart was thumping,” said the woman who did not want to be named.
The woman, who did not speak English, said the building’s management had not been communicative and she felt helpless.
Masanori Nakayama, owner of the donut shop Southern Maid on the building’s ground floor, said he felt the shop shaking at the time of the fire.
“I was in the shop and all of a sudden, like start shaking - the store, and then I couldn’t tell what’s going on.
“And then just found the smoke outside, and then quickly we evacuated.”
He didn’t realise at the time that the heat from the basement fire had damaged a beam under the shops, but eventually noticed that the glass door of his shopfront had buckled.
The door of another shop was entirely off its hinges.
Nakayama said there had been little information from the building’s management or his insurance company.
“I just don’t know what to say, what to do at the moment.
“I’m just panicking. I straight away contacted the insurance company, but they said it’s too early stage,” he said.
Nakayama was concerned about the safety of the building and did know whether he would be able to continue business on the premises.
Another business owner, who did not want his name published, said the fire could have been avoided if the building management had cleared the big pile of inorganic junk in the basement earlier.
“It’s been piling there for at least one or two months. This kind of junk should’ve been cleared long ago, it’s very dangerous...how did this all happen? Because there was rubbish for them to set on fire, without the rubbish this wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said about 50 businesses were affected.
The precinct would have lost tens of thousands of dollars in trade on Tuesday, he said.
Auckland Council said its compliance officers had been assessing the building, along with structural engineers.
RNZ has approached the building’s management company LY Holdings for comment, but has not heard back.