'Flames everywhere': Survivors reflect on Loafers Lodge tragedy

In the early hours of May 16 last year, a fire engulfed the top floor of the Loafers Lodge building, a temporary accommodation facility in the central Wellington suburb of Newtown. Five residents were killed, 20 others were injured, and dozens of others were left homeless. One year on, Laura Frykberg revisited those who survived.

When 76-year-old Mark Jones first heard the fire alarm sound that night, he thought it was a false alarm. They happened regularly at the lodge when residents decided to smoke in bed. He said it was so common he often did not move from his room.

“I happened to be dressed, so I went out on the veranda and had a look to see what was happening,” he recalled.

“I spoke to Liam, one of the people who unfortunately died in the fire, and I said to him, it is just another false alarm.”

The pair returned to the lodge. Hours later the alarm sounded for a second time. This time Jones was told to "get the hell out" because the fire was real.

When he left his room on the first floor, he saw clouds of thick black smoke coming down the corridor. He gathered with other residents on the road outside. Liam was not there.

“People just gradually trickled out of the building. There were people in bare feet and in their nightwear. We couldn't see any flames, just smoke, so we wondered what was going on.

"All of a sudden the roof caved in and there were flames everywhere, just lit up like a torch. That's when we knew it was really serious."

Later, Jones discovered Liam Hockings was among those killed that night, along with Peter O’Sullivan, Melvin Parun, Mike Wahrlich - known to many in Wellington as Mike the Juggler - and Kenneth Barnard.

"The worst thing was, and this was the thing that has traumatised everybody, was listening to the people screaming up there, who got caught," Jones said.

Another survivor that night was Tamrat Isse Adan, an Ethiopian refugee who had lived at the lodge after spending years on the public housing wait list.

He lost almost all his possessions in the fire. But it was the loss of his good friend Kenneth, that today still brings him the most grief.

"We knew each other for one-and-a-half years. Every day we sat down and talked and sometimes ate together. He never ever leaves my mind," Adan said.

“He was a very nice person, a very kind person. A bad word never came from his mouth, he would always say hi.”

Jones and Adan are now settled in more permanent public housing through Kāinga Ora. Adan believed it was the fire that got him off the wait list, a queue more than 25,000 people long.

In the days that followed, more was discovered about the safety of the building itself.

Fire sprinklers were not installed, nor were they required to be, according to the building code at the time.

Fire and Emergency has said it had enough crews and specialist trucks to respond to the fire, although a second large-ladder truck could not attend as it was out of action.

In a statement to 1News it said a review into its response is still ongoing and now forms part of a police inquiry.

Jones believed the fire was totally preventable.

"There was no proper fire alarm system, there was no person responsible in the building for ensuring the building was emptied," he said.

"The third floor was pretty much a no-go area. They ran themselves up there. Even so, there should have been a proper fire alarm system.

"The whole building was a disaster waiting to happen. That is the truth of the matter really."

Jones and other former residents won a legal battle last year to recover some of their possessions still in the lodge.

The case was taken by a community law firm after residents received a text from the property manager telling them all their belongings would have to be disposed of due to contamination.

Water damage, fire damage and asbestos contamination meant some belongings were unable to be safely removed.

But a number of personal belongings including family photos and memorabilia were recovered.

The building is still standing but its fate is uncertain. 1News has asked the building owner for comment.

In the weeks after the fire, a man, who has interim name suppression, was charged with murder and arson.

In March this year he entered a not guilty plea. His lawyer told a court the defence of insanity would be relied on during the trial, which is set down for August.

For Jones, the real injustice is how the ordeal has impacted his mental and physical health, as well as others who lived in the lodge.

"I am now insulin dependent since the fire. My nurse tells me stress is one of the worst things you can have with diabetes," he said.

"I can tell there is something wrong with me because I watch things on television that I would normally find exciting and now I find disturbing.

"Possibly, I am going to have counselling for PTSD, but I am on medication for it now."

Adan, who survived a heart attack late last year, is still in disbelief that he was one of the ones who got out.

"Sometimes, even now as I talk to you, I can't believe we survived that terrible fire, in the middle of the night," he said.

"Today, we are lucky we are still here, we are still talking."