Dehumidifier fire: Auckland apartment complex evacuated after resident woken by alarm

Residents were evacuated from an Auckland inner-city apartment this morning. Photo / Supplied

Residents have been allowed back into an Auckland apartment building after a dehumidifier caught fire his morning, triggering an evacuation.

Fire teams successfully put out the blaze at the Victoria St complex, opposite the Sky Tower in the central business district, after an alarm sounded close to 8.30am.

The fire started in Stacey Poki’s sixth-floor apartment.

The 31-year-old was woken by a blaring fire alarm to find black smoke filling her apartment after her dehumidifier caught fire.

Fire crews raise the skylift crane. Photo / Supplied

Opening the door to her bathroom, Poki could only see a small fire flaring from the appliance but little else because of the thick smoke blocking her vision.

“It was scary,” she said. “I couldn’t see anything.”

After the building had been evacuated and fire officers arrived at the scene, the small fire was soon put out and residents were allowed back into their apartments.

However, Poki’s nerves remained frayed as she waited for the damage to be assessed.

“I never thought I’d be one of those people.”

Fire officer Chris Todd, who was first on the scene, said the fire “got going pretty well” by the time he arrived.

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Fire teams hurry to tackle a fire in a sixth-floor apartment in the city. Photo / Supplied

He said Poki was unable to permanently return to the apartment until a cleaning crew had been through.

Given the fire alarm had successfully alerted Poki to the blaze, Todd said it was a good reminder of the necessity of smoke alarms.