‘There’s nothing left’ after house fire
A Napier family who lost their home and eight dogs to an unexplained fire say they have nothing left.
On Wednesday, fire tore through 76-year-old John Scott’s home on Ellis Wallace Rd in Eskdale, Napier, killing eight of his family’s dogs which were bred for shows.
Scott’s daughter, Kathleen Andrews, said the family had lost everything.
‘‘You’re nothing left.
‘‘Nothing is salvageable.’’ She was first informed of the blaze by her husband, Justin, about 1pm on Wednesday while at work at Napier’s Laptops R Us.
‘‘Dad was on the farm raising cattle and checking stock on the road. just numb, there’s
‘‘He had probably been gone for about an hour and a half.
‘‘He came round the road, saw the smoke and realised what it was. But by the time he got there it was too late.’’
Scott ran to his closest neighbour and contacted fire services.
Kathleen Andrews said the fire was contained within the house, which was made of brick.
‘‘It pretty much worked like a kiln.
‘‘There’s still a few walls standing, but with rural fires they’re barely able to save anything.
‘‘The clear glass Pyrex cookware, we saw some of that last night and it’s actually melted.
‘‘I could only imagine the absolute heat.’’
‘‘We’re going day by day, but as we get comments in and bits coming through it gets the tears going.
‘‘We’ve lost everything that was in that home.
‘‘It’s 50 years of his mum’s stuff, everything.
‘‘Amazing ornaments of dogs, stuff, all wedding photos, name it, it’s gone.’’
Scott moved to New Zealand from Scotland in 1968 with his trophies. You wife, and had owned the threebedroom home and farm since 1989.
The eight dogs that were killed were between five months and six years old, and were all pointers bred for conformation showing.
Four older dogs which were in kennels at the back of the property survived the blaze.
Kathleen Andrews said the dogs that were killed were scheduled to go to a show next week, and were being kept indoors to maintain their weight and cleanliness.
‘‘Every time you try to think about them it’s hard.
‘‘They’re family members, they’re not just dogs in that commodity sense. We lost three generations.
‘‘You’re lost for words, it’s gutwrenching.’’
Her father was devastated by the blaze, she said.
‘‘He’s still quite numb. This is his home, this is where he lived.
‘‘He’s kicking himself, thinking ‘what if I’d been five minutes early, 10 minutes early, I could have saved the dogs’. But then we might have lost him.’’
An assessor was investigating the property yesterday to figure out where and how the fire started.
Meanwhile, the family were waiting to hear back from their insurance company to see whether they could rebuild.
Five fire trucks and two water tankers were called to the property on Wednesday, and left the scene about 5.20pm.
At one point, firefighters had to pump water from a nearby river, and the family were grateful for the support they had received since.
Chief fire officer Bob Palmer said he was unsure of what had caused the fire, and the blaze was still under investigation.