SkyCity fire: Video reveals terrifying scene inside convention centre

The terrifying conditions firefighters were working with inside the New Zealand International Convention Centre can be seen for the first time.

In the video footage, shot at 12.30pm yesterday, flames can be seen leaping in the roof overhead while firefighters continue to dampen down hot spots.

Fire and Emergency said the firefighters inside were being helped by aerial appliances outside at the time the footage was filmed.

At the time the video was shot, the fire had been blazing in the under-construction roof for 48 hours.

Fire crews continue to work in the building and are still in "active firefighting mode", incident controller Dave Woon said today.

The crews will continue to be confronted with pockets of flames, as the video shows, he said.

Today's work also included an "overhaul" phase as firefighters pull off iron and roofing and sealing materials from the roof.

Fire and Emergency said it was hard to say how long the surrounding CBD roads would remain closed.

"It may take a couple of days, or up to a week."

Six days to pump out flooded basement

Safeswim programme manager Nick Vigar said it would take up to six days to pump water out of the flooded basement carpark.

Water was originally pumped into the stormwater network for 20 hours, but was switched to the wastewater network from 6.30pm yesterday when their testing confirmed that run-off contamination levels were "sufficiently low".

"Our main concern was that emergency services needed to pump water from an immediately dangerous situation."

Vigar said the water in the basement had some hydrocarbon contamination and could be sufficiently treated at a wastewater treatment plant.

They are still waiting for eco-toxicology results which are expected to come in after the weekend.

Vigar advises the public to treat water as potentially hazardous, and there were some reports the water was "not particularly discoloured".

He said he doesn't expect contamination levels to increase while cars are in the flooded basement.

Still got a whole lot of work to be done: Mayor Goff

Meanwhile Auckland mayor Phil Goff is feeling positive after a hectic week of 4.30am starts since one of Auckland's biggest fires in recent years broke downtown on Tuesday.

"I'm breathing in fresh air and I won't need to get my suit dry-cleaned at the end of today - which is good, because I was running out of suits,'' he laughed.

The mayor said he had been briefed at 5am and then constantly throughout this morning by authorities about the situation.

All indications is that the fire at SkyCity's new convention centre is definitely out - save for a few hot spots needing to be put out every so often.

"We're really on top of that now. We've still got a whole lot of work to be done, but it's getting back to business as usual in the city centre''.

There have been more flame flare-ups atop the convention centre overnight.

Fire and Emergency confirmed crews were attacking two incidents this morning.

"These are expected from time to time," FENZ said.

SkyCity chief executive Graeme Stephens said it would be weeks before the convention centre was secure enough to properly assess the damage, and at least a month or two before they knew exactly how much damage there was.