House blaze leaves elderly man in shock
Barking from a dog alerted Pirongia residents to a blaze that sent a house up in a ‘‘ball of fire’’, leaving an elderly resident’s home gutted.
The ferociousness of the flames was enough to heat a neighbouring woman’s own house about 30 metres from the blaze on McClure St early Wednesday.
‘‘It was just huge, the flames were huge - a ball of fire,’’ said the neighbour, who did not wish to be named. It was massive, it heated up our whole house, it was just a glow.’’
Emergency services received multiple calls to the fire in the twostorey property just after 4am.
The solo occupant - an elderly man almost in his 90s - was inside at the time and able to escape but went into mild shock.
He was treated by ambulance for smoke inhalation, Northern Fire Communications shift manager Paul Radden said.
‘‘On arrival we found the house well involved in fire - it went to a second alarm and resulted in extra crews from Otorohanga, Te Awamutu and Hamilton responding.’’
In total eight fire trucks were called out, and additional tankers were needed to supply water to douse the blaze in the 20 by eight metre house. By 7am the fire was under control but the damage was extensive, said the neighbour.
‘‘It’s gone, the whole lot, except for the brick underneath,’’ she said.
She said the resident lived in the house alone behind his son’s home on land owned by the family trust.
‘‘He’s okay, he got out and that’s the main thing. He’s nearly 90 and he’s lost everything.’’
The neighbour was woken by her dog barking before the fire alarm went off in the small Waipa township.
‘‘It was well alight because we thought it was our house. It was pretty scary.’’
Nobody knows how it started, she said.
‘‘As long as everybody is safe that’s the main thing.’’
Waikato police Senior Sergeant Andrea McBeth said due to the substantial size of the fire police cordoned off surrounding roads. A fire investigator had been called to look into the cause of the blaze. All Hamilton libraries will close for two days in June while the software system that helps the staff to manage the libraries is upgraded. They will close on Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14. Hamilton City Libraries digital manager Amanda Hawkes said the roll-out of the new library management system, Kotui, is a significant project for the libraries service. Hawkes said it won’t change what customers pay for loan items, but the new system will modernise staff and customer access to information on the library’s catalogue. A mobile phone app for customers will also be rolled out as part of the project. The library’s catalogue and eResources will also be unavailable. The University of Waikato has further strengthened its partnership with Zhejiang University City College (ZUCC) in Hangzhou, China, with the launch of a new joint institute that sees Waikato degrees being fully delivered on-site in Hangzhou.