Loafers Lodge one year on: has enough changed?

Thursday, 16 May 2024

Former Loafers Lodge resident Simon Hanify is piecing his life back together after a tumultuous six months.

A year on from the tragic fire at the Loafers Lodge hostel in Newtown, a community leader says the danger to the city’s most vulnerable residents remains. Rachel Thomas reports.

It was 12.25am on May 16, 2023 when the first call to emergency services was logged about a fire at Loafers Lodge, 160 Adelaide Rd.

First floor resident Simon Hanify smelt smoke and banged on doors telling people to flee, while others in the 92-room hostel ignored the blaring fire alarms, which notoriously went off multiple times a day.

Five residents would never emerge: Michael Wahrlich also known as Mike the Juggler, 67, Melvin Parun, 68, Kenneth Barnard, 67, Peter Glenn O’ Sullivan, 64, and Liam James Hockings, 50.

Twenty others were injured while escaping the burning building, the charred remains of which still sit near a tyre shop and a VTNZ testing station.

It took fire crews just over two hours to get the inferno largely under control.

A blessing led by Taranaki Whanui took place on Thursday before a memorial plaque was unveiled to commemorate the lives lost and people displaced when Loafers Lodge burnt down a year ago. Pictured are members of Taranaki Whānui and Te Āti Awa.

On Thursday, some of the survivors attended a blessing and memorial plaque unveiling before dawn, near the bus stops at Hutchison Rd and John St, metres away from the hostel.

Flowers sit in front of the newly unveiled plaque in Newtown to commemorate the Loafers Lodge victims and survivors.

A kōwhai tree was also planted next to the plaque in remembrance of those who died.

But a year on, the danger to the city’s most vulnerable residents remains, Wellington city missioner Murray Edridge says.

The blessing took place at dawn in Newtown.

“You wonder what it takes. We had hoped the fire would generate a response from the community that actually, we're going to do better for people. I don't believe a whole lot has changed.

“I had hoped that Loafers Lodge would change our city forever, whether it actually has, is another question,” Edridge said.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge says the fire will remain a triggering point for many evacuees.

The dozens of displaced evacuees included hospital cleaners and admin workers, meat workers and migrant nurses, former refugees and nine people under Corrections electronic monitoring.

“The fire will, for many of them, be a permanent feature of their lives that will always be a triggering point,” Edridge said.

Loafers Lodge on Adelaide Road on the day of the fire.

He understood all evacuees had been housed, but some were still in “unsatisfactory accommodation,” he said.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a full review of fire safety provisions in the Building Code on the anniversary of the fire.

On Thursday, some of the survivors attended a blessing and memorial plaque unveiling before dawn.

“The role of government in this case must be to ensure that something like this never happens again,” he told The Post.

The review would focus on how to better protect people and property and could lead to higher penalties for non-compliant building owners, he said.

Thirty-seven similar buildings were examined in the wake of the fire and a “troubling“ number of issues of non-compliance were found, he said.

A paper with recommendations would be taken to Cabinet by about September and potential changes to legislation would be put forward by early next year, he said.

Tory Whanau, Mayor of Wellington, at the site on May 16, 2023.

“We’re not going to muck around… this has got to be a priority.”

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said the residents were some of the city’s most vulnerable and the council would continue to advocate for them.

Flowers laid by Simon Hanify opposite Loafers Lodge. (File photo)

“It’s so important that our most vulnerable have a warm, safe and dry place to live and access to wrap around support.”

“This long-term plan has $500m to upgrade our community housing and the council will continue to support and work with organisations like the DCM [Downtown Community Ministry] and the City Mission.”

Whanau labelled the fire an unimaginable tragedy and said the lives lost “were loved members of our community here in Pōneke”.

A memorial plaque to one of the city’s most well-known personalities, Mike the Juggler, is being unveiled on Thursday at 2pm near his old busking spot outside Westpac on Lambton Quay.

Edridge was incredibly sad the building’s burnt remains were still sitting there as “a reminder of this awful tragedy”.

Director of Loafers Lodge Limited, Trent Stephenson, said no decisions had been made yet on whether the building would be demolished, with insurance matters still pending.

Asbestos had been removed from the building, which was now just a shell.

Discussions would start soon about the options, but on the anniversary of the fire, his thoughts were with those who had died.

Despite the damage, the building is otherwise considered structurally sound, the city council confirmed.

A 49-year-old man is awaiting trial in August on five charges of murder and two of arson in relation to the fire. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges and his lawyer has indicated a defence of insanity would be offered at trial.