Woman missing as historic building continues to burn 

Firefighters worked to extinguish the fire in Christchurch's Cashel Chambers. Picture / Simon Baker

As an historic Christchurch building continued to burn today, concern mounted for a woman known to have been in the building who was unaccounted for.

Street kids and vagrants fled the multi-storey Cashel Chambers in the central city as fire took hold about midday yesterday.

The blaze quickly claimed a landmark building which had stood for more than 100 years.

Christchurch deputy chief fire officer Greg Crawford told NZPA this morning that the building was still burning.

"At the moment we're still drowning it and we'll probably continue to drown it for quite some time," he said.

"The concern at this stage is we still don't know if we've got everyone out."

In recent months, the building has stood empty, with only street kids and vagrants occupying what was once the Farmers department store.

"I've just made contact with someone who is a case manager for some of those people and he is going to ... see what he can come up with," Mr Crawford said.

One woman known to have been in the building was unaccounted for.

"This person still hasn't fronted up yet, so it is a concern."

But Mr Crawford said he hoped the missing woman was in the city somewhere.

Several people were spotted fleeing the scene of the fire, and the fire service freed one woman who was under the influence of an unknown substance and had been unable to free herself.

It was likely the building would now have to be demolished, he said.

Streets in the area remained cordoned off this morning.

"It's still burning -- there's an awful lot of combustible material in there and now, because we had to push the walls in yesterday, it's pretty much covered in masonry and stuff and it's still burning quite merrily underneath."

Police and the fire service would begin investigations today into how the fire started, he said.

"It's obviously a case of arson but as to where or how [it started], it's too early to tell."

The building was damaged last month by a deliberately lit fire.

Yesterday's fire began on the building's third floor, where a group of vagrants were dossing, and quickly spread through the half-block bordered by Bedford Row, Cashel and Madras streets.

Building owner Simon Henry said yesterday he had pleaded with the city council to allow removal of external fire escapes to make it more difficult for people to get into the building, but he had not been allowed to do so.

Historic Places Trust spokeswoman Jennie Hamilton said the trust was hoping some of the historic building's facades could be saved.

"It really saddens us to see yet more of Christchurch's history go up in smoke," she said.

A fire service spokesman told National Radio this morning the decision whether any of the building could be salvaged was for the building's owner, who would inspect the site today with Christchurch City Council engineers.

Police spokeswoman Maggie Leask said it was unlikely any police investigation of the fire scene would take place today as it was still too dangerous.

The area was cordoned off, with some pedestrian access, she said.

Follow-up inquiries would be made today with people believed to have been in or around the building at the time of the fire.

Ms Leask said it was believed there could have been about six homeless people bedding down inside.

- NZPA