PORT HILLS INFERNO
LOCALS BAND TOGETHER AS TRAGEDY STRIKES
Locals share how they banded together as tragedy struck
As the sixth anniversary of the devastating February 22 earthquake was acknowledged, Cantabrians were reeling from a widespread fire in the Port Hills, which saw homes destroyed, families evacuated and a young helicopter pilot killed while fighting the fires.
THE EVACUEES
Nicole Bailey became increasingly alarmed as she watched thick smoke billow across Christchurch’s Port Hills from the window of her office at Middleton Grange School in Riccarton.
Ten kilometres away, at the family home in Longhurst Terrace, which backs onto Victoria Park, right about where the smoke was at its densest,
her youngest girl, uni student Shannon (21), was also worried.
It was 2.30pm on February
15. The smoke was from a blaze that had started two days before and would, over the next few days, rage across more than 2000 hectares, damage 11 homes, displace hundreds and leave a helicopter pilot dead.
Nicole (56) went online: “There was an update to say a power outage was affecting a lot of people and I panicked.”
She drove home and, with Shannon, started grabbing what she could to pack into the car. Her first thought was for middle daughter Danielle (25) who was still at work.
“She’s getting married in a couple of weeks,” Nicole explains. “So that was my immediate priority – I grabbed her wedding dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses, and bundled them into the boot.”
She also made sure to get her jewellery box, husband Des’ grandfather’s WWI medals, passports and a suitcase full of clothes. Two unopened bottles of perfume – “I wasn’t going to let the fire get those,” – and four of the art-loving family’s many paintings were also stowed in the car.
By this stage, Des (57) , Danielle and the couple’s oldest daughter, Simone (27), had turned up and they too packed what belongings they could into their cars.
They spent the early part of the evening glued to the internet for news about
what was unfolding around them. At 10.30pm, they were told to evacuate.
A colleague of Nicole’s provided a bed for her and
Des, while the girls and the Baileys’ 12-year-old cat Mazoe stayed with Des’ mother.
For the next three days, they watched as the blaze – described by one veteran firefighter as “one of the worst in his career” – scorched its way across the hills, hoping their home would survive.
On the ground, more than 400 people – including fire service crew, and rural and volunteer fire personnel – battled the flames. At least a dozen helicopters with monsoon buckets tried to douse it from above.
Says Nicole,“Thursday night, especially, was awful – just watching these huge flames. It was very, very scary.”
But the Baileys were lucky. The fire didn’t reach their property and they were allowed to return home on the Saturday.
“It is definitely not something I’d ever want to experience again,” tells Nicole. “There were a few complaints about the handling of it, but we have nothing but praise for the emergency services and the firefighters. They worked so hard to keep the flames away from our house.
“We’re counting our blessings,” she says. “We were so lucky. Other people have lost everything; they’ve lost their homes, their livelihoods. The real need now will be to support them.”