Loafers Lodge resident reflects on tragedy one month on

Mark Jones was one of 99 people inside Loafers Lodge in Newtown, Wellington when a fire started in the early hours of May 16th.

On the eve of the first month since the fire which killed five people, Jones is settling in at a Kāinga Ora apartment.

"The level of donations from people in New Zealand has been gratifying... people have stepped up to help and it's I think it's one of the things that New Zealanders are noted for, is the fact that they will do this," he said.

Everything in Jones' apartment except for his phone is new, with Wellington City Mission providing financial and practical support as he rebuilds his life.

So far, $189,161 of the total $372,033 donated by Wellington City Council and the public has been distributed to former residents and the family of residents as cash payments and to cover accommodation, medical and dental needs, flights for whānau, subsidised funerals and furniture among other costs.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Eldridge said the charity has been clear it's been entrusted with the funds by the public.

"It's our job to spend it, spend it well but to spend it fast and to be transparent about what we spend it on so if people have needs there's not a lot of onus of proof on them, so if people say 'this is what I had' and 'this is what I need now' then we make sure we go out of our way to ensure that's provided to them."

"I know we've had some of the evacuees who are using this opportunity to say I want to change my life a bit, I want to put some things right or do some things differently and hopefully we're enabling that to happen as well," he said.

Jones speaks of one resident who was living in "hand to mouth" conditions at Loafers Lodge.

"They were receiving very little support which is not good for their mental state of mind, but the assistance and help that they've been given and the fact that they've been now accommodated in somewhere which is reasonable has been a big thing," he said.

He said there are many people elsewhere in New Zealand living in poor conditions.

"That's really quite sad that a fire such as this had to happen before something's done, but it has been done for us and I'm really grateful."

Reflecting on the fire, Jones said there is one thing that upset him.

"Listening to the screams coming from the third floor people trying to get out."

Jones said another aspect that he is still reflecting on is what he clams was the initial response from firefighters.

"I can tell you that exactly from the photographs we took, the videos we took, we've got a timeline and it was 52 minutes from when they arrived to when they actually put water on the fire.

"Now I don't know whether that would have saved lives or not, but the reason why we didn't believe there was anything serious going on is that for all this time, the people in the fire department were just milling around," he said.

In a statement, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) deputy chief executive for service delivery design Steph Rotarangi said an independently led operational review of the response to the fire will be conducted.

"Fire and Emergency has requested that this review be led by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC). The review will assist Fire and Emergency to learn what worked well and where we can improve," it said in a statement.

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