Exterior paint blistered in the fierce heat, exposed timber framing was charred and water from fighting the fire flowed down an inner-city Auckland street.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has released new, detailed information about the June 17 fire at Auckland supermarket New World Victoria Park.
Owner Foodstuffs (North Island) said the supermarket is “closed for the foreseeable future” and is not expected to reopen for two years.
Fire and Emergency said the cause of ignition is “yet to be determined”.
Heavily redacted documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act did not contain an explanation about how the fire started.
The popular city supermarket burned for about 10 hours and more information is to come that could well state the cause.
“Fire and Emergency’s post-incident analysis in relation to this event is ongoing. It is likely that a fire investigation report will be prepared by a fire investigator,” it said.
However, there was no indication as to when we might know about the cause.
“Due to the nature of this work, we are unfortunately unable to provide you with an estimation for when the fire investigation report may be completed,” it said.
But much information about the store, its construction and what happened during the fire was provided.
New World Victoria Park is at 2 College Hill, Freemans Bay.
The building is a carpark on the basement level, supermarket retail with back-of-house preparation and storage areas on the ground floor and a mezzanine floor that is accessed from the staff area.
The mezzanine floor provides additional offices and staff facilities, with storage and plant spaces.
The building is bound by a neighbouring property to the east of the building, Victoria St West/College Hill to the north, Scotland St to the west and Franklin Rd to the south, the risk assessment said.
The report said that on June 17 the fire continued to grow in size and many people called it in.
“Multiple 111 telephone calls were received by the Fire and Emergency communication centre shortly after the alarm activation, reporting the building being on fire,” it said.
The supermarket’s retail area was occupied and functioning during normal trading hours.
Images shared to social media from drone footage and the Westpac rescue helicopter showed the fire spreading within the roof space, the office area on the mezzanine level and towards the northwest profile, (College Hill/Victoria St) side of the retail area.
Photos also showed paint blistering because of exposure to elevated temperatures over an extended period.
The fire breached the external, north profile wall at the height of the mezzanine level.
Exposed timber framing showed signs of having undergone pyrolysis and was charred.
Ventilation-generated fire patterns were observed above the roller door leading into the inwards goods area on the southeast profile of the building.
The hot gases, having a much lower density than ambient air, had escaped from this opening.
“Exposed timber framing showed signs of having undergone pyrolysis and was charred. The west profile (Scotland St) side had received smoke staining; however, the exterior wall, glass within windows and doors leading into the supermarket’s retail area had remained intact.”
The aluminium window and door frames were also undamaged.
Water from fire suppression activities was running down the gradient of Scotland St on the west profile, front of the building.
Water was also flowing from within the supermarket retail area, down the pedestrian access stairs into Scotland St.
Examinations were made of many different aspects of the building.
Here is one example: “Fire damage to the air-conditioning units mounted on the roof of the building appears consistent with exposure to an external heat source.”
Ovens within the bakery department appeared to have been damaged in the same way.
Electrical outlets that were able to be safely examined were found to either be undamaged, or damage was found to be consistent with exposure from an external heat source.
“Supermarket retail area: at the time of the incident, the supermarket was trading as normal.”
After a risk assessment, some areas of the retail area were deemed as too dangerous to enter.
Unstable roofing, roofing tiles, lighting and shelving was observed. Wall coverings on the north profile wall, within the area of the offices and bakery department, were also compromised.
The south profile (fruit and vegetable department) had significantly more intact suspended roofing panels, with the hot gas layer about one-third of the way down the vertical wall surfaces.
Stock and shelving were relatively intact, but smoke and water-damaged.
Damage was consistent with late fire spread into this area.
Ceiling panels above the northwest profile of the retail area had been significantly damaged; stationery on shelves and checkouts below this area were relatively intact, although water-damaged.
The Herald reported last month that demolition specialist Nikau Contactors won the job to remove elements of the store, making it safe for specialists to re-enter, possibly in the next few weeks.
Herald drone footage showed a bird’s-eye view of work on the upper levels of the store.
Equipment, steel, roof beams, iron, walls and concrete are being removed for recycling.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.