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Wellingtonians are paying their respects to the five victims who died in the Loafers Lodge at a public service of remembrance at 5.30pm on Thursday.
The service is being held at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and is being led by the Reverend Canon Katie Lawrence.
Photos of the five men who died in the May 16 fire – Liam Hockings, 50, Kenneth Barnard, 67, Peter O’Sullivan, 64, Melvin Parun, 68, and Mike Wahrlich, 67, who was popularly known as Mike the Juggler – are arranged in view of the congregation.
Among the speakers will be mayor Tory Whanau, City Missioner Murray Edridge, St Thomas Church priest Mark Johnson, and representatives from police and Fire and Emergency.
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“We are here to share in our grief, to support one another, to come together and grow stronger as a community,” Whanau said.
She addressed the families of those who died, telling them that they had the community’s aroha.
Whanau also told survivors that “You will not be forgotten”.
And she reminded those present that, unlike a canoe, “a human bond cannot be severed”.
Edridge, who helped arrange the service with the mayor and church, said the service would be a chance for the city “to demonstrate our collective aroha and manākitanga for those impacted by this terrible event”.
Multiple investigations are now underway into the cause and how the fatalities could have been avoided.
Monique Ford/Stuff
Wellingtonians gather to pay their respects to the five victims who died in the Loafers Lodge at a public service of remembrance at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul.
The lodge was, for many, a final refuge for accommodation before sleeping rough.
So the fire has led to questions about how society dealt with those on the margins.
At Hockings’ funeral earlier on Thursday, his sister Lucy told the mourners that Liam’s death, and the others, should be used as a force for change.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/The Post
Flowers were left opposite Loafers Lodge after the fire.
“I think we should all be incensed about what happened.”
Ninety-nine people were living at the central Wellington lodge at the time of the fire.
Tala Sili was one of those living in the Lodge. Now he’s in a Kāinga Ora public housing apartment in central Wellington
He’s struggling to fathom why it took a fatal blaze to bring him here.
“I never had any hope. If it wasn’t for the fire, I reckon I would be still stuck at that place for a long while. It had to be for a fire to happen, in order for me to get a good place. Which is pretty crazy.”
DAVID UNWIN/ STUFF
Tala Sili was a resident at Loafers Lodge and escaped the fire by jumping onto the roof of a neighbouring building.
A 48-year-old man, who has name suppression and who has been remanded in custody, is facing five counts of murder and has also been charged with two counts of arson over the hostel blaze.
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