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The former Bupa Gardenview Rest Home has been destroyed in a suspicious fire.
An abandoned former rest home in Levin has been gutted by the third suspicious fire to occur at the site in recent months.
Firefighters were called to the blaze at the former Bupa Gardenview Rest Home, on Bath St, at 3.48am on Monday, Fire and Emergency New Zealand central shift manager Karen McDonald said.
At the height of the fire, there were six fire crews at the scene from Levin, Waitārere Beach, Palmerston North, Paraparaumu, Ōtaki and Foxton.
The two-storey building was “totally destroyed” and crews at the scene focused on protecting the surrounding properties from the blaze as the building was abandoned and scheduled for demolition, McDonald said.
Fire and Emergency NZ’s Manawatū Whanganui assistant commander, Craig Gold, said the fire had caused “very minor damage” to the spouting of a neighbouring property behind the rest home.
However, the owner of the former rest home property, Wayne Bishop, had offered to fix it for the property’s owners, Gold said.
The fire had been deemed suspicious and a fire investigator was expected at the scene later in the day. Police were also investigating the fire.
Gold said Bishop would be on the property on Monday with a digger and excavation equipment, to finish demolishing what was left of the building.
ADELE RYCROFT/Stuff
Excavation equipment pulls apart what remains of the building.
“We’re leaving crews there all day long to assist the owners with demolition and protect them, I suppose, if anything flares up.”
Gold said there had been some “unwanted” behaviour at the property over the Christmas period.
There had also been two arsons at the site, Gold said, including one in late November that damaged the rest home’s top storey.
At the time, Bishop said he didn’t know what or who had started the fire, but there had been other problems at the property.
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The rest home has been “totally destroyed”.
Windows had been smashed by young people entering the site via a nearby fence, and the place had suffered a lot of vandalism in the 18 months Bishop had owned it, he said in November.
The old rest home and dementia care unit was understood to have abruptly closed about three years ago.
A police spokesperson said police were making initial inquiries into Monday’s fire.
“The cause is currently unexplained and police would encourage anyone with information who has not already spoken to police to please get in touch by phone on 105.”
Alternatively, information can be provided online at 105.police.govt.nz, referencing file number 231216/6245.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National fire risk management adviser Peter Gallagher discusses fire safety. (First published June 22, 2021)
