A Wellington man who lost a lifetime of possessions in a huge fire at a storage facility says he is appalled the building had no sprinkler system.
The blaze at the Kiwi Self Storage lock-up destroyed items including Academy awards, family heirlooms and documents.
Firefighters were called to the site in Kilbirnie 12.45am on Friday when the building containing 750 storage units caught fire. It took hours to bring the blaze under control, and about 30 firefighters remained at the scene overnight on Friday damping down hotspots.
The company said sprinklers were not required by law at storage buildings but the company would now look at installing them at its other facilities.
Peter Fowler lost valuable New Zealand art works among the belongings he stored in two units, for which he paid $260 a month. He said sprinklers should be compulsory.
"I think this is basically just a bottom line issue. The company knew they could get away with not having sprinklers and so they went ahead and put storage facilities together without them because they could save a bit of money. It's certainly not reflected in the price that they charge.
Fire crews at the Kiwi Self Storage facility. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Wellington Regional Council council chair Fran Wilde lost hundreds of documents. Ms Wilde said her unit was filled with papers she was going to use for a book she planned to write.
"Half of them were records of the gay law reform battle in the 80s, and all that was unique material which is now gone."
The company has fully insured the building, but people need to have individual insurance to be covered. A spokesperson for Kiwi Self Storage, Andrew Fraser, said those who weren't insured with the company may be able to claim on household policies which often cover items stored in other locations.
Two investigators began work on Saturday to determine the cause of the fire.
