Resident who escaped backpackers blaze says the accommodation was his only option after being homeless
Resident who escaped backpackers blaze says the accommodation was his only option after being homeless
Benjamin Rees had to scramble out the window as Parnell's City Garden Lodge - which he calls a "tinderbox" and a "hole" - burned.
By the comments made by the person being interviewed, it sounds like this was also a case of arson?
Rees said he was having a nap in his room on the second-storey on Sunday afternoon when he heard someone walk up the stairs and say, "set fire to the place".
"All of a sudden, smoke came billowing over my door," Rees said.
Ah so that's what happened to the cheap St Georges Bay Rd hostels (City Garden and Lantana Lodge) ! They must have all been converted into de facto SRO housing by MSD and that's why they no longer operate as travel accommodation.
Some of those rooms were tiny and the place was a labyrinth, and it was dodgy before it had a captive population - must have been a complete hellhole as an always-at-capacity social housing facility.
And yes does sound like another arson. Really lucky nobody lost their lives in this one.
Definitely lucky, and just amazing it's happened twice in such a short period of time.
It's actually not amazing, given what they are.
Overseas SROs are often linked with fires, partly because they tend to be old hotels/motels with old wiring and have owners who don't care much about safety, and I think partly because they attract crime.
Various cities have had to pass ordinances about them for this reason.