Wharenui Road Lodge Blaze A Near Calamity, As Children Raise Alarm
The Wigram was on the scene of the Riccarton housing complex blaze, in which a shared kitchen for 17 people was turned into an inferno. Tenant says the smoke alarm did not work.
“Luckily the children here informed us that there’s smoke in the house, so we are already informed, otherwise we are still inside,” said tenant Adrian, as a blaze ripped through a two-storey housing complex in Riccarton yesterday afternoon.
It sent a thick cloud of smoke into the air that could be seen from a busy Riccarton Road. People gathered to watch as 4 fire appliances arrived to attend to the scene.
Tenants were seen removing suitcases and possessions from the scene and watched on powerlessly as the flames broke the windows, a few meters from an Orion power substation, shops and Chinese restaurant.
Adrian was living in the rear flat that he shares with his 7 flatmates, when children from the adjoining flat sounded the alarm.
“Their house is on fire,” he recalled.
He believed 6 children and 3 adults lived in the adjoining flat. There were another 3 flats in the building.
“The kids already inform us that their house is on fire.”
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