[Source: 1News]

A resident of a Wellington hostel where a fatal fire occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning said the fire alarms often went off, but not when they were most needed.

Emergency services have confirmed multiple fatalities following the fire at Loafers Lodge on Adelaide Rd in Newtown.

Police said their initial assessment was that the number of deaths was fewer than 10, but they could not be any more specific at this point.

The building was unsafe, and until they could enter and reconcile numbers of people who were safe they were not in a position to determine how many people were deceased or unaccounted for.

Fifty-two people were taken out of the building and at least five were rescued from the roof, but others remain unaccounted for.

At least five people were taken to hospital, two in a serious condition.

Police and firefighters at the scene of the Loafers Lodge following a fatal fire. (Source: 1News)

Lodge resident Chris Fincham told RNZ fire alarms would go off regularly in the building, but this time none sounded.

The only reason he knew something was happening was because someone in the hallway shouted a warning, he said.
“I heard a voice coming down the passageway saying ‘evacuate, evacuate, the place is on fire’ — and I didn’t think much of it because the fire alarms would go off two or three times a week and we’d just ignore it.

“But then when I heard this guy, or this person, screaming ‘there’s a fire, evacuate’, I sat there for about five minutes and then I put my shoes on, got my wallet together, and I thought maybe I should leave.”

Other residents have said they did hear alarms.