Precious little salvaged after fire
A TEENAGER who lost everything in a house fire north of Oamaru on Thursday says he was left ‘‘speechless’’ by the devastation that unfolded before his eyes.
Two appliances from the Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade were called to the scene in Corbett Rd, between Pukeuri and Hilderthorpe, at 10.15am, after the fire was reported to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
The blaze was brought under control about 11.30am and fully extinguished about an hour later.
Dallas Thomson (19) was working on a nearby dairy farm when he got a call telling him the threebedroom house he and another person had rented for about a month was ablaze.
At first he thought it was a cruel joke, he said.
‘‘I thought ‘is this a p...take?’ I was actually at home about five or 10 minutes beforehand — I got the call and then shot back. I was kind of speechless. I was thinking I was one of those people that kind of thinks this won’t happen to me. I drove past the gap in the fence and thought ‘oh my God, the house is actually on fire’. I just couldn’t believe how fast it got up.’’
He was not able to retrieve any of his possessions at the time.
Mr Thomson, who did not have contents insurance, visited his former home for the first time since the blaze yesterday and was able to find some vinyl records and a photo album among the charred remains of his former bedroom.
‘‘It’s a bit devastating,’’ he said.
‘‘It was kind of nice being my age and being able to flat, and to see it all go up in 20 minutes . . . it p...ed me off a little bit.’’
Fortunately, his employer has given him the use of a property at the farm he works at while he makes other arrangements.
Messages and offers of support had flooded in from both friends and family, but also others in the community.
‘‘I’m quite thankful. The amount of support from people I wouldn’t usually see support from has been quite cool.’’
Fenz fire risk management officer for Central and North Otago John Smalls continued to investigate the blaze yesterday.
An exact cause had yet to be established and the investigation would continue today with the aid of an insurance investigator.
‘‘I’ve got what I think is a point of origin and I’ve got a couple of potential causes,’’ he said.
He was unable to comment on the investigation further until it had been completed, but said the house did have working smoke alarms.
Mr Smalls advised people to be wary when it came to fire hazards and pleaded with renters to insure their possessions.