Auckland War Memorial Museum. Photo: 123RF
Fire and Emergency says it is urgently reviewing the Auckland War Memorial Museum's application for an alternative fire exit, amidst the closure of the museum due to asbestos issues.
The museum has been closed since Saturday after asbestos was found in a critical fire exit, requiring FENZ to approve an alternative exit before members of the public are allowed back.
FENZ said in a statement that it was reviewing the application "urgently" but added that approval would depend on whether an appropriate evacuation scheme had been put in place, to ensure the safety of visitors and staff.
It said the reviewing of such applications could take up to 20 days.
FENZ said it may not be the only agency whose approval was needed for the safe reopening of the museum - stating that consent from Auckland Council may also be required.
Auckland's deputy mayor Desley Simpson said the museum was missing out on thousands of ticket sales and is calling for urgency from FENZ.
"This is a real problem for the museum, they average about 2600 visitors a day," she said.
"Some of those are obviously Aucklanders who don't pay, but our visitors to the city who love going to museums... They've lost probably $8000 a day for admissions, over four days of course that's $32,000."
Simpson said the lost revenue was "getting a bit scary," and urged FENZ to prioritise a solution.
"So, urgency from FENZ to get an agreement with the museum on their emergency fire exit is really, really important because we do need our Auckland War Memorial Museum open as soon as possible," she said.
There was no indication how long that could take, but Simpson hoped it would be a matter of days.
"The timeline for me is 'as soon as possible', but it has to be a an agreed plan."
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