Was there a fire in the Ambassador Theatre Building?

Yes. On 25 June 2018 there was a non-suspicious fire in the apartment upstairs. Nobody was in the building at the time except the infamous Puss Puss, my landlord’s kitty. She was missing for the duration of the fire, but she managed to avoid harm and was found later by firefighters.

The damage is centered on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building, where smoke was seen pouring out the windows and escaping in the top left corner of the building. Thankfully Cupid sustained minimal damage, including some flooding as the water cascaded down the stairs.

If you should ever need it (and I really hope you don’t) the fireandemergency.nz website recommends the following mixture for cleaning smoke residue on walls and floors:

• 4 to 6 teaspoons emulsifying solvent cleaner (a cleaning agent you can find at a hardware or paint shop such as Resene)

• 1 cup household cleaner or chlorine bleach

• 4 litres warm water

At the time of this post, repairs have not yet begun upstairs. However the bar downstairs and the studio space in the main theatre area which belongs to Peter Roche are operational.