Fires and earthquakes have been major threats to New Zealand's parliamentary buildings. Fire was the worst danger because wood was used in the buildings for a good part of their history. Earthquakes have not substantially damaged the buildings, but Wellington's location on a fault line worried engineers, and several times recommendations were made to demolish parts of the parliamentary complex because of the earthquake risk.
Fire was the scourge of colonial towns and cities. Old, tinder-dry wooden buildings and books were a highly combustible combination, and many private and public library collections went up in flames.
On 18 November 1947 Ballantynes, a Christchurch department store that was a local institution, was razed by one of the worst fires in New Zealand’s history. It was Cup week and the city was buzzing with visitors and shoppers. In mid-afternoon, when the fire began, an estimated 250–300 people were shopping at Ballantynes, which had a staff of 458.
