Investigators have found the cause of the fire at SkyCity's International Convention Centre in Auckland - was accidental
Investigators have found the cause of the fire at SkyCity's International Convention Centre in Auckland - was accidental
22 April 2020
The blaze in October last year took 10 days to fully extinguish.
Fire and Emergency Auckland manager Ron Devlin says it was inadvertently caused when the top layers of a waterproof membrane - known as a cap sheet - were being laid on the roof.
The investigation's concluded the fire started after the cardboard inner of a cap sheet roll was momentarily exposed to a flame from a worker's gas torch and began to smoulder.
It did so for up to 38 minutes unnoticed, before bursting into flame.
Devlin says they ruled out speculation the fire was caused by a contractor leaving a blowtorch on, while going for lunch.
Investigators found all gas bottles in the area of the fire's origin were turned off for the lunch break.
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