Alleyway fire engulfs sheds
Minutes was all it took for Lou Woonton’s shed and thousands of dollars worth of property inside to go up in smoke.
It comes after a group of youths set fire to trees in a Tokoroa alleyway boarding his Stirling Pl property late Monday afternoon.
Woonton is still coming to grips with losing two motorbikes, his brand new fishing gear, powertools, and a range of other costly items set aside for a renovation.
‘‘My wife was just about to hang the laundry out when she saw the flames,’’ he said.
‘‘We were in the middle of a renovation and all my gear was in there. We’re waiting for the insurance assessor to come in now to see how they can help us clean up but I don’t think there is anything that can be salvaged.’’
Neighbour Peter Eaton lost part of his newly built woodshed in the blaze.
‘‘The flames were just about right at the top of the trees. It was lucky I had taken a holiday from work so I was home at the time’’, he said.
Eaton said he took to the flames with his garden hose.
‘‘Lou had a gas cylinder for his nail gun and one of them shot through the fence while I was out there. Luckily I was further down otherwise it could have hit me,’’ he said.
‘‘There was smoke everywhere, she was hot, and I had to come away a little bit just to be able to stay there trying to keep the iron cool. Adrenaline took over.’’
Tokoroa Fire Chief Dave Morris said due to the hot dry conditions and a slight breeze, embers from the fire also started another 50 metres away.
‘‘The embers caught fire to a whole lot of dry mulch next to a woodshed,’’ he said.
‘‘We had our appliances there and I also called Putaruru just to assist in case we got called away again.
‘‘This is the sort of thing that happens from people being absolutely stupid. We had it under control within about half an hour but we still had to go through all the hot spots and embers’’.
Morris said the youths should have thought about the consequences of their actions.
‘‘We didn’t even have any significant wind so you can just imagine if we had a real intense fire and more wind. No one was hurt but it could have been disastrous,’’ he said.
‘‘As of yesterday we are now into a restricted fire season and because of the dryness it doesn’t take much for fires to spread.
‘‘Think of the consequences of how this is going to affect other people and light no outdoor fires for everybody’s safety.’’
Senior Sergeant Kelly Brown put the incident down to ‘‘kids being kids’’.
‘‘It was kids just being silly and then it got out of control on them,’’ she said. ‘‘We are still making inquiries. I have not really looked into it properly [yet] but it wasn’t intentional.’’
Brown also urged people to consider the consequences of their actions.