Sprinklers, alarm could have saved restaurant – expert

FOCUSED: Pumice Food Group owner David Kerr says he is determined to rebuild the restaurant.

The extent of the fire damage to the award-winning Pumice Restaurant was almost certainly avoidable, an independent fire safety expert says.

Fire Protection Association of New Zealand president David Nathan backed Hamilton's Senior Station Officer Daryl Trim, who said the outcome of the fire could have been different if the restaurant had a sprinkler system and a brigade-connected alarm.

But the owner of the building, Jeff Downey, said it was built to code and that the rules were set by the fire service.

Fire crews were called to the Church Rd restaurant in Te Rapa last Sunday morning where the blaze was so extensive they said the building would have to be torn down.

Nathan works independently with councils and is qualified to verify fire safety systems. He said a sprinkler system and adequate warning to firefighters would have protected the building and business.

"The provision of such a system in the Pumice example would likely have seen damage repaired and the restaurant operating again within days," Nathan said.

"Sadly Pumice never had such a system and the resultant damage is evident to see."

He said there was "a void" between the level of fire protection required for a building consent "and what building [and] business owners really need to ensure likely business continuity".

Pumice Food Group leased the building for its flagship restaurant from Downey Construction which had developed the Church Rd business park over the past decade.

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Sprinklers, alarm could have saved restaurant - expert