A blaze that engulfed a Wellington miniatures studio earmarked for use in the troubled film The Hobbit was likely exacerbated by the complete lack of fire protection measures, investigators say.
Fire crews battled for nearly three hours on Friday to put out the blaze at the Rongotai Rd warehouse and workshop housing Portsmouth Miniatures Studio, a shooting stage owned by moviemaker Sir Peter Jackson.
Parts of The Hobbit were to be shot at the studio, but a spokesman for Sir Peter would not comment on what had been stored in the building or whether the fire had caused any problems.
Fire Service investigators spent the weekend sifting through debris to establish the cause of the blaze.
Initial investigations suggested the fire was likely sparked by battery chargers and nickel cadmium batteries in a workshop area, fire safety officer Stuart Law told NZPA.
While the technical aspects were yet to be established, it was possible the batteries could have suffered mechanical damage.
The fire was not considered to be suspicious.
Mr Law said about half the buildings had suffered smoke damage, while up to a fifth had been damaged by fire.
There would have been less damage if fire protection measures had been installed, he said.
"There was no fixed fire protection in the building at all. There were no heat detectors, smoke detectors nor a sprinkler system in the building.
"So if they were installed into the building it certainly would have had less fire damage, would have had an early warning - it would have certainly paid for itself in those circumstances."
A spokesman for Sir Peter's Wingnut Films company, Matthew Dravitzki, said the fire protection measure would have been impractical.
Heat detectors would have been set off by hot studio lights, smoke detectors would have been triggered by smoke machines, and sprinklers could not be installed because they would pose a safety risk.
"Because we're working with high-voltage lights and electrical equipment, if sprinklers were to be activated there's a high risk of electrocution. So neither of those systems were installed," Mr Dravitzki says.
Portsmouth provided a large studio and shot all the miniatures and many special effects for the King Kong and Lord of the Rings movies.
The fire at the studio could be yet another setback for the The Hobbit film, which has been plagued by labour wrangles and financial problems.
The film's producers are currently in a dispute with actors over employment terms for the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's book.
Other problems have included financial troubles at MGM, which owns the rights to The Hobbit, and the departure of director Guillermo del Toro in May because of delays.
