Emergency services have been left frustrated by hotel guests, who were reluctant to evacuate their rooms during a fire in Auckland on Tuesday night.
The five-star Pullman Hotel was evacuated just after 9pm, when a small blaze broke out on the 10th floor.
But Assistant Area Commander, Dave Woon, says the signs to leave the building were brushed off by guests.
"It's made our job quite a bit more difficult, and meant that we had to pull firefighters away from other jobs."
Mr Woon says "unfortunately, it's not a surprise".
"It's something that's a growing trend that we're seeing in Auckland."
It's believed the fire started in the air conditioning, or an electrical duct.
One guest says as he was evacuating, there was only one other person in the fire escape.
There were no reports of injuries.
Newshub.
