Sign In / Register
The former Pro Shop at the shut-down Gulf Harbour Country Club is now a charred ruin after a suspicious fire in the early hours of Saturday, May 18, which is being investigated by Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ).
Manly Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Craig Macdonald says the fire was well underway when fire crews arrived but although the former Pro Shop was destroyed, fire fighters were able to stop it spreading to the main country club complex nearby.
The FENZ investigation team has been on site, and is completing its report. In the meantime Macdonald is not prepared to speculate on the cause of the fire.
The golf club’s buildings have been vandalised and graffitied since it was closed by the owner, Long River Investments, almost a year ago. Cr John Watson, together with lobby group Keep Whangaparaoa’s Green Spaces (KWGS), is seeking accountability from the owners for not adequately securing the abandoned premises.
In the past, Auckland Council’s compliance team visited the site several times in response to complaints, but said it had not identified public health risks or nuisance to neighbouring properties that would constitute a breach of the Property Maintenance and Nuisance Bylaw – and therefore could not take enforcement action. (HM January 29).
Cr Watson says the fire has changed that.
Under that bylaw, the owner of an abandoned or unoccupied building on private property is required to prevent public access to the building. Cr Watson says while parts of the country club have been boarded up, there are a number of entry points that have not.
KWGS supporters say they are disappointed that no attempt has been made to fence the clubhouse site off and make it secure.
UPDATE: 10am Tuesday, May 21, 2024:
A second fire took hold at the beleaguered Gulf Harbour Country Club last night, with around a dozen fire trucks, including the water tower truck, attending.
This morning, around 7.30am, firefighters and police remained on site and the final hot spots were being dampened down. It appears the fire has almost completely gutted the main country club building, although external walls remain.
The exact cause of last night’s fire that gutted the main Gulf Harbour country club building may never be known, according to Fire and Emergency (FENZ) Waitemata assistant area commander Shaun Pilgrim.
Assistant commander Pilgrim was the incident controller at the fire. He says FENZ received multiple calls just before midnight and on arrival the building was well involved.
Seventeen appliances from all over Auckland and around 50 FENZ personnel were at the scene.
Pilgrim says because the building was somewhat derelict, it was dangerous to send crews inside, so they battled the fire from the outside, which is where the water tower with its long ladder came in handy.
Getting the blaze under control took 4 to 5 hours. Crews remain on site and are likely to be there until this afternoon.
The cause is suspicious and a fire investigator is on the scene, but Pilgrim says it is unlikely they will be able to do a thorough investigation because of the fragile structure of the building.
“Arson is a very serious crime and proving it has to be 100 percent accurate,” he says. “With the building like that, determining the cause and finding the area where the fire started will be very difficult.”
Anyone with footage or information that may assist is asked to contact Police via the 105 phone service, referencing job number P058799465.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
