No smoke detector in Ōtāhuhu boarding house room where elderly man was killed by fire

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

A fatal fire at a south Auckland boarding house might have been prevented if the room had a smoke alarm, a fire investigation report says.

On June 21, 2019 emergency services were called to the Wembley private hotel, a three-storey boarding house on Moa St in Ōtāhuhu just before 6pm.

An elderly man many in the neighbourhood knew simply as 'Henry' was found dead inside his room where the fire started.

Specialist fire investigator, Terry Jordan, noted in his report, the fire was accidental and said the cause could not be determined.

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'The causes we could not rule out included the possibility of some form of electrical malfunction, or discarded cigarettes or matches accidentally causing an ignition on the bed.'

The fire started near the bed in the room, which Jordan said had a heat detector but no smoke alarm.

'If there had been a smoke alarm, the outcome of this incident may have been different,' he said.'

Owners of the boarding house also had no approved evacuation scheme, despite being told they needed one three times since 2013, Jordan said.

On the night of the fire, another resident living at the house heard a fire alarm going off and called 111, they went to the room where the fire had started and opened the door only to be 'confronted with smoke, heat and fire', Jordan said.

The resident managed to warn and evacuate everyone else inside the building and told emergency services a person might still be inside the room of the fire.

The boarding house had a mix of one and two-bedroom units, rented out for between $140 and $240 a week, and 25 residents were staying at the property when the fire happened.

Fire and Emergency's Auckland Regional Manager Ron Devlin said the fire demonstrated the importance of early warning of fire, anywhere where people sleep.

'The building was maintained to a standard that applied at the time of its construction, in the 1930s, and therefore relied on older technology heat detectors to give warning of fire.

'These types of detectors are no longer recommended for sleeping areas and we recommend commercial building owners replace these with smoke detectors in areas where people are sleeping.'

Devlin said there had been no prosecutions in relation to the building not having an evacuation scheme as they take an 'educative approach' to fire safety.

'This fire should alert the accommodation industry to the need to take fire safety seriously.

'Having early warning in areas where people sleep is vital, because when you sleep you lose your sense of smell. By coupling this with an evacuation plan you dramatically increase your chance of survival should a fire occur.'