A fire that severely damaged the upmarket Manuels lakeside resort in Taupo on Monday was caused by an electrical fault, fire safety investigators confirmed today.
Guests and staff were evacuated from the building when fire broke out in the roof about 3pm, and more than 50 firefighters from Taupo, Hamilton, Rotorua and Tokoroa battled for several hours to bring the blaze under control.
An electrical inspector from Auckland today confirmed the fire was caused by wiring running to a neon light at the front of the building, fire incident controller Stuart Bootten told NZPA.
The investigation was completed, he said.
The fire extensively damaged the resort, particularly in the administration areas, and had burnt out a lot of electrical wiring.
Staff had started a clean-up effort, including removing carpet and furniture to get the resort back up and running as soon as possible, he said.
"It's not going to be a five-minute-fix. They'll have to do reconstruction and while they're doing reconstruction they'll have to run all the new electrical cables throughout the building as well.
