The fire erupted in a top floor apartment of the Oceans Resort in the early hours of Monday morning, 2.31am, 21 July. Firefighting appliances from Whitianga, Kuaotunu and Cooks Beach responded with Whitianga providing three units. The fire was brought rapidly under control within 20-30 minutes.
Roly Chaney, Fire Chief for Whitianga, reported that an inspection resulted in the fire being due to ‘undetermined cause’. The heat was so great that all evidence of what could have caused the fire had been incinerated. The tenants at the time, and who were present when the fire started, were not hurt or injured. However, they have disappeared and are not locatable.
One of the residents commented that there have been issues reported, concerning the tenant(s) who had been there several weeks. Impeccable references enabled the tenant(s) to stay. Another resident reported, “It was a pretty scary night.”
Everyone was evacuated promptly as there was no certainty about how far or quickly the fire could travel. No one was hurt.
Later Monday morning, the Fire Chief, Roly Chaney returned with Station Officer, Darren Hartley to check the situation and inform the fire inspectors who were on site.
