The first firefighters to enter the raging Loafers Lodge hostel blaze have described their narrow escape from the building shortly before a deadly flashover happened.
Brady Cutting and Noel Wellington have detailed crawling blindly on their stomachs through pitch black smoke towards an “unbearable” heat as they tried to find the fire.
They have both given evidence in the Wellington High Court during a trial for the man accused of lighting the fire. The 50-year-old, who has interim name suppression, has denied five counts of murder and two of arson.
He is accused of killing Mike Wahrlich, Liam Hockings, Peter O’Sullivan, Melvin Parun and Kenneth Barnard in the fire, which happened shortly after midnight on May 16, 2023.
Wellington told the court there was “zero visibility” on the fire floor that night.
He explained how he held the thermal imaging camera directly up to his visor to try to see a thermal layout of the room, but even then smoke was obstructing his vision.
“I started to notice sparks of flashes from within the smoke. This is a clear indication that fire was going to flash or flashover,” he said.
Flashover is when a fire reaches such a high temperature that all combustible materials in the area can spontaneously ignite.
His colleague, Cutting, had earlier described flashover, saying it meant “everything in the room can burst into flames and if you’re in there when it happens you’ll essentially burn to death in your equipment”.
Wellington took several long pauses as he described the moment he started seeing the signs that flashover was “imminent”.
“At about the time I noticed the signs of flashover, I was hit by something very heavy that had fallen from above. I was on my knees and it knocked me to the floor. I quickly realised the structure from above us was collapsing down,” he said.
He sent a radio message advising of the danger and was instructed to withdraw. A short time after they left the building, the flashover happened.
Cutting also spoke of the narrow escape, saying shortly before leaving they had been trying to spray water towards the seat of the fire.
“Conditions, including the heat, were changing rapidly,” he said.
“The heat was unbearable, we were essentially lying on the floor simply trying to protect ourselves.”
After they left the building and took off their breathing apparatus sets, he said he spent some time “gathering myself for a bit and reflecting on what just happened”.
Station officer Mark Powell also gave evidence, describing having to make the call to withdraw his crew.
Staff advised they were still searching the mezzanine floor and had one room left to check.
“I told him to leave it and get out immediately.”
Within seconds of exiting, the flashover happened, he said. He believed if anybody was still on the third floor at that time, they had not survived.
“I had to make that call to protect the firefighters, as they would have not survived long at all in that flashover event.”
The trial began yesterday, with Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop suggesting to the jury the defendant lit the fire because he didn’t like living at Loafers Lodge.
He had lived at the boarding house for just a week before he started the deadly blaze. Bishop understood he did not dispute he was the one who lit the fire, but would likely claim a defence of insanity.
She explained CCTV footage would be presented to the jury, showing the man first trying to light a fire under a couch about 10.30pm, which was put out by other residents. The footage then shows him returning and lighting another fire in a cupboard shortly after midnight.
Bishop said for a verdict of insanity the jury needed to believe on the balance of probabilities the defendant was labouring under a disease of the mind - to such an extent it made him incapable of either understanding the nature and quality of the acts, or knowing the act of murdering the five people was morally wrong.
He could still be guilty of murder even if he didn’t intend for his actions to kill anyone, so long as he knew they were likely to cause death.
The trial, before Justice Peter Churchman, is expected to take five weeks, and more than 100 witnesses will be called to give evidence.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.