Fire investigator onsite to determine cause of Avenue Hotel fire

Firefighters were called to a blaze at the Avenue Hotel in Whanganui. Photo / Jess Hayward

Twenty Whanganui firefighters and four appliances were needed to get a fire at a Central Whanganui hotel under control.

The fire was reported at the Avenue Hotel on Victoria Ave at 5.52pm on Sunday.

Whanganui firefighter Aaron Summerhays was on the scene as an incident controller and said it took around an hour to get the fire under control.

“Then it took a longer period of time to go through the building, or the part that had been affected, and just make sure it was fully extinguished,” he said.

Victoria Ave was cordoned off between Liverpool St and Pak’nSave.

An operational support wagon was also in attendance.

After putting the fire out, a crew was left on standby in case any hotspots reignited.

All personnel had left the site by midnight.

“It was relatively significant, and obviously [had] quite an impact on the business, which no one wants to see,” Summerhays said.

He said a fire investigator was on site on Monday to determine the cause of the fire.

Witness Jess Hayward said she was alerted to the fire when she heard people yelling outside.

“I could hear people yelling ‘fire, fire’, so I jumped up and ran outside. People were yelling ‘fire, fire over at Pak’nSave’,” she said.

“It was very scary. It was pretty well alight. It was massive, it took them quite a while to get it out.”

A statement from the hotel said the fire was in the kitchen, which sustained significant damage and would not be operational for some time.

“The fire brigade’s service has been amazing and the fire was contained within a short period of time,” it said.

Due to electricity being cut as a safety measure, all personnel were relocated from the building, with all staff and approximately 20 guests being evacuated and relocated to various motels around town.

“We are grateful for the motels assisting the hotel in this emergency.”

The statement said management was working through issues during “this difficult time”.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.