There were no safety sprinklers installed at the Wellington hostel where multiple people have lost their lives in one of New Zealand's worst fires in a decade.
Police and fire rescue teams are still working to access the site of the fire at Loafers Lodge, while engineering teams assess whether it is safe to do so.
Six people are confirmed to have died in the blaze, but authorities expect that number to rise.
Questions have been asked around how such a tragedy could happen and how many more buildings in New Zealand are vulnerable to this type of disaster.
Police have said the fire is being treated as suspicious, however, it is not yet clear whether it was deliberately lit.
According to a statement from the Wellington City Council, the four-storey hostel passed a building inspection in March this year, and there were no concerns raised by the independent inspector.
"The building code does not require the retrofitting of sprinkler systems into existing, older buildings," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told a press conference earlier on Tuesday.
"For older buildings there are fewer requirements than for newer buildings and so people who have apartments and so on where they’ve been there for a long time, there may not be sprinklers required for those."
Most states in Australia require buildings above a certain height to install fire sprinklers as part of alert and evacuation systems.
They are also mandatory in places such as residential care facilities and early childhood centres.
In 2000, after a devastating fire at the Childers backpacker hostel in Queensland killed 15 people, there was a state-wide overhaul of fire safety regulations in budget accommodation.
An inquest into the deaths found "the loss of life could have been significantly reduced by an operating smoke alarm system or the installation of an automatic fire sprinkler system".
New Zealand's building code, which deals with requirements for fire safety, was last updated in 2022, including new provisions around standards for sprinkler and fire alarm systems.
While the building code recommends the use of sprinklers in buildings designated as "sleeping occupancies", including hostels, it is not mandatory.
'Beds were full last night'
NZ authorities are cross-referencing a master list of everyone believed to have been in the building last night with those who are accounted for in evacuation centres.
"My understanding is there is a number of shift workers in there, my understanding is there are a number of Ministry of Social Development clients in there, although it’s not currently being used as emergency accommodation," Mr Hipkins said.
The hostel was known to be short-to-medium-term accommodation for hospital and abattoir staff, as well as vulnerable city residents hoping to escape the cold temperatures overnight.
Local MP and Minister for Finance, Infrastructure and Sport Grant Robertson was at the site earlier on Tuesday and said it was his understanding the 92-room hostel had been booked to capacity.
"And I believe the beds were full last night," he said.
An Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said they had confirmed with their New Zealand counterparts that police had not identified any Australian citizens who had been impacted.
Wellington City Council's welfare team is working with other agencies to provide food, clothing and shelter for about 50 people who have nowhere to go.
Residents have told local media that fire alarms in the building frequently went off, but did not make a sound last night.
Earlier on Tuesday, Housing Minister Megan Woods told local media the building passed an inspection earlier this year.
"My understanding is there was a standalone alarm system in there and the requirements were all being met and the building had been inspected as recently as early this year," she said.
"The briefing I had this morning was in terms of the requirements of that building under the Building Act, that it was meeting all those requirements."
Wellington Fire and Emergency district manager Nick Pyatt said the building used a dry riser system, which allows firefighters to access water from each floor once they are inside the building and use that to extinguish the blaze.
Multiple investigations to take place
Wellington Fire District Manager Nick Pyatt said this type of scene, with "flames coming out of a building with people inside" was his department's "worst nightmare".
"This is the very unusual for New Zealand and a tragedy like this will really rock the city," he said.
"It will take us some time to come back from this."
At a press conference this afternoon, Wellington's Acting District Commander Dion Bennett said police would enter the building at some stage on Wednesday, once it is safe to do so.
"This requires an extensive scene examination, and as you can see, the building is large and the damage is extensive. It will be slow and methodical and will be detailed to ensure that we find the answers we need," he said.
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Earlier on Tuesday, the prime minister said he would "await any findings" from police and coroners' investigations before making any decision about a government review.
"We have requirements, regulations in place for a reason ... because bad things can happen. And it's important we regularly review those," he said.
Wellington City Council has a building compliance team working with fire authorities and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to provide further information on the building for any investigations.
