‘Terrible roar’ alerts hillside locals to fire

Nelson city residents fled their homes as a ‘‘terrible roar’’ alerted them to a fire racing up a neighbouring hillside.

Iwa Rd resident Kent Robertson had the day off to do some concreting around his workshop at home when he was alerted to a strange noise.

‘‘It sounded like a high-pressure hose dumping water from a height,’’ he said.

‘‘I came around the corner of the house where I’d been working and then I could see the flames – the noise was popping and cracking the wood.’’

Robertson said the flames came right up to his house before he fled.

‘‘It gave me such a fright. The whole family was out, so I was the only one at home.

‘‘We have an emergency go kit, but I didn’t have time to get it – I just ran away, it appeared that close.’’

On North Rd, Jude and Colin McNabb first noticed the sound about 2.30pm.

‘‘I thought it sounded like someone had a machine going,’’ Jude said.

‘‘I went to the back door and looked up, then I just saw flames shooting everywhere, and a terrible roar.’’

Like many, Robertson and the McNabbs came down to North Rd to see what would become of their houses.

Some residents even got out their deck chairs to get a better look at the fire.

Robertson said he could see ‘‘dancing orange flames’’ all up the side of Iwa Rd.

‘‘At that time there was no Fire Service, and I thought, ‘That’s it – we’re losing the house’.’’

He said that within 20 minutes, multiple helicopters and fire engines arrived, with the helicopters dumping water directly on one of the houses to save it.

‘‘In 20 or 30 minutes they had it all under control.

‘‘We’re so lucky – so thank the Lord and praise the Fire Service.’’