Family devastated by fire damage
Alice Hudson was considering an afternoon nap when her 9-year-old son begged her to help him make a volcano. As she stood at the sink filling a bowl with hot water she heard the local fire brigade’s alarms go off.
Looking outside to see where they were going she saw smoke coming across her front yard from a fire pit at her neighbour’s home.
Within minutes strong winds of up to 120km blew embers from the fire to her Dunedin home in Beaconsfield Rd, destroying all her family’s belongings.
The blaze forced about 25 people and their pets to be evacuated from a dozen homes.
Specialist fire investigator Marty Jillings said embers from the fire pit was one of the ‘‘potential ignition sources’’ under investigation and that the fire was not suspicious.
Hudson told Stuff she rang her partner about 4.30pm after seeing the smoke and ran outside in her socks to tell him their neighbour had had a fire pit going all day in the strong winds.
Hudson has been afraid of fire since losing two friends in a blaze when she was younger, and told her two children who were home to stay inside while she checked what was happening.
‘‘The wind was so strong that the smoke from the fire pit was going sideways, completely horizontal straight into a macrocarpa treeline and the embers had just hit the hedges and it was just starting to go up as I watched it.’’
She dialled 111 as two of her children, George, 9, and Grace, 7, ran outside. Her eldest child, Evie, was at a friend’s for a sleepover.
‘‘Within three gusts of wind the whole shed on the treeline was engulfed in flames and I was frantically trying to dial 111 while running back to the front of the yard.’’
Hudson screamed as she heard loud bangs coming from the property, as items in the garage and her car and lawnmower exploded.
‘‘Within two minutes the fire was over the second storey, the flames were so high and it was just lapping all down the side of the house.’’
As she stood on the road watching the blaze destroy her belongings, Hudson posted a photo of the smoke on Facebook, with the words ‘‘goodbye house’’.
Members of the community came to the family’s aid, giving jackets to her children, and after a sleepless night on Saturday, Hudson returned to the scene on Sunday to assess the damage.
The house was destroyed and most of the children’s bedrooms no longer had floors, Hudson said.
‘‘George’s room is not a room any more, there is no floor in his room. The bunk beds went through the foundation, they are just charred.
‘‘It is just so horrific, I do not know how to actually mentally process it.’’
The family, unable to afford contents insurance, lost nearly all their belongings.
George, a talented sportsman, lost all of his trophies, his bike and his skateboard.
Medication for Hudson’s two younger children, who have ADHD, was also lost in the fire, and the family’s two cats, Pretty and Batty, went missing. Pretty had since been found, but Batty remained missing.
She believes the person with the fire pit should be charged.
‘‘I lost everything. I am furious, my kids have lost everything.’’
Two days after the blaze, Hudson said she had slept about three hours since it broke out.
‘‘Every time I closemy eyes all I can see is fire, I cannot get rid of the smell of everything burning. It was just black, my whole face and lips feel sunburnt.’’
A Givealittle page created to help the family had raised nearly $14,000 by yesterday morning.
Josh Moffitt, Hudson’s partner, thanked those who had rallied to offer support and donations.
‘‘The community has done such a massive job and we would thank them more if we could – the Portobello and town fire services for saving the neighbouring properties.’’
The home’s owner, Heather Morris, earlier said her husband, Warren, stored their boat, car, trailers and tools on the property, all of which were destroyed.
‘‘I am absolutely devastated,’’ Morris said. ‘‘You walk around and you look in the windows and there is just nothing there.’’
Morris believed it was ‘‘irresponsible’’ of the people who had the fire pit to not put it out, given the strong winds.