South Auckland double-fatal house fire: Cafe Hanoi executive chef Nathan Houpapa pays tribute

Cafe Hanoi Britomart executive chef Nathan Houpapa says the two men killed in a South Auckland house on Monday were hard workers on a trajectory to success.

Houpapa worked with Kiwa Ropitini-Fairburn, 25, and Tony Marsters, 24 every day and spoke of two goal-oriented young men, much-loved by their colleagues.

“They weren’t scared of hard work. They would’ve done well,” he said.

“It’s been a really difficult week for everybody. They were friends with everybody who worked for the company.”

Cafe Hanoi staff are grieving the loss of two much-loved colleagues, Kiwa Ropitini-Fairburn and Tony Marsters (back). Photo / Cafe Hanoi

Ropitini-Fairburn and Marsters died when a fire engulfed the Hillpark property they were staying in at 6.55am. Police have confirmed the fire is not being treated as suspicious.

Houpapa, who has also worked at Coco’s Cantina, said Marsters started working for them in 2019.

“He was studying film and video-editing and working with us part-time - just washing dishes. But he really enjoyed the environment and decided he wanted to work in hospitality, so he left his study and worked for us full-time.”

Kiwa Ropitini-Fairburn, 25, was known as a gentle giant and had a passion for kapa haka and te reo.

Marsters continued a passion for film-making and had just started his training to become a chef, said Houpapa.

“He was so easy to work with and so easy to deal with. He was really keen, always turned up for work and was super reliable.”

Cafe Hanoi closed on Wednesday night so bereaved staff could attend a special service for the pair.

Pair were due to work that fateful day

Tony Marsters had a passion for film editing and had recently starting training to be a chef.

Ropitini-Fairburn’s whānau has paid tribute to their son, who was a well-loved member of the Kaihaka kapa haka group. He also had a passion for te reo.

The 25-year-old had been travelling around Dubai, China and Italy with the group before he returned home last year.

Houpapa said they hired Ropitini-Fairburn on a recommendation from Marsters.

“Kiwa was the same - always friendly, had good relationships, always happy and always together. If one of them was working and the other one wasn’t, the other one would be hanging around. Eventually, they were put on the same roster.”

Cafe Hanoi executive chef Nathan Houpapa. Photo / Michael Craig

Marsters’ family is of Cook Islands descent and Ropitini-Fairburn hails from Ngāti Kahungunu.

Houpapa also revealed the two friends were rostered for work on Monday - the day they died.

“They were to be working that day,” he said, becoming emotional.

Fire service personnel attend the fatal house fire in Freshney Place, Manurewa, Auckland. Two men died in the fire, Tony Marsters (left) and Kiwa Ropitini-Fairburn. Photo / Michael Craig

“Tony was due to start. He does food prep early in the week for a couple of our restaurants and we normally talk about it on Monday mornings and he comes in about 11.

“I thought it was odd that I hadn’t heard from him...but then we received a phone call in the afternoon. It’s terrible. It’s a real tragedy - two really lovely and good young men.”

Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.