A 50-year-old man, who has name suppression, is accused of murdering five people by setting Wellington's Loafers Lodge hostel alight in 2023. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
A firefighter who battled the fatal Loafers Lodge blaze has described escaping the building that was collapsing around him, and narrowly avoiding a "flashover" that could have killed him.
Noel Wellington gave evidence in the High Court at Wellington, in the trial of a man accused of murdering five people by setting the Newtown boarding hostel alight on 16 May, 2023.
The 50-year-old defendant, who pleaded not guilty to murder and arson, has name suppression, and his lawyers have indicated they will use the defence of insanity.
The Crown says the man deliberately lit the fire, he knew it was morally wrong and he knew people could die as a result.
Wellington said as he and his colleague Brady Cutting reached the third floor of the building that night, the smoke was getting thicker and the "incredible" temperature was rapidly rising.
As they crawled along the ground, they got closer to what they thought was the origin of the fire - as indicated by the heat, and the "dark red glow" of flames, said Wellington.
Eventually, the heat got too much and they could not advance, Wellington said.
"I started to notice sparks or flashes from within the smoke," he said.
That indicated the fire was about to "flash over": the smoke could spontaneously combust due to extreme temperatures.
Earlier, Brady Cutting told the court "you'll essentially burn to death" in a flashover, even in full firefighting kit.
Wellington said when he noticed the sparks, he was hit by something very heavy that had fallen from above.
"I was on my knees and it knocked me to the floor. I quickly realised the structure above us was collapsing down.
"I radioed over the operations channel that the roof was collapsing and that I was seeing signs of imminent flashover."
Station officer Mark Powell responded and told them to get out.
After crews evacuated, the flashover happened.
Powell, who also gave evidence, told the court he was the last firefighter out of the third floor.
"I knew that if anyone was still on the third floor, they would not survive once we'd pulled out," he said.
He had to make the evacuation call to protect the crew, who would not have survived, he said.
"At this point, I believed there were still occupants in the building above. Whether they were still alive at this point of evacuation, I thought was unlikely."
After other crews fought the fire from outside, Powell and his crew were tasked to re-enter the third floor.
They were looking for bodies, he said.
"Once at the landing, turning left, there was immediately a body ... he was lying on his back and was covered in debris," Powell said.
"It was clear this man had come through the mezzanine floor, which had collapsed."
The crew continued dampening hotspots and were eventually ordered out, because their oxygen tanks were running low.
"I personally only saw one body, but I was made aware of two additional bodies that were found by another crew."
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