Old Hastings family home damaged in fire will be restored

Barry "Slats" Wyllie with friend and new homeowner Rahia Jessup outside his old family home that was damaged in a fire on Thursday night. Photo / Warren Buckland

Local firewood supplier Barry Wyllie might have slept through a fire that erupted in the house he lives behind if a neighbour hadn't warned him.

Wyllie, known by many in the community as "Slats", was irritated when he first heard a neighbour yelling outside as he was trying to get to sleep in his shed at the back of the property.

"I thought "who the hell is this bugger?" and he said "your house is on fire!"

He said he had refused to look at the fire or the damage when he left to stay with his brother in Havelock North that night because he felt it would bring bad luck.

He returned the next day to stay with the house in his shed behind the house as the damage was assessed and he figured out what to do next.

When Wyllie came around to the front of the house for the first time since the fire, he saw the wall, decking and chairs in front had all been scorched by the fire, casting a dark shadow on everything.

Barry stoking the woodburner inside his shed home behind the house damaged in a fire on Thursday night. Photo / Warren Buckland

He tapped around above and below with his cane, trying to guess what was still salvageable.

Past the crumbling door of the room , everything was completely burnt and the heavy smell of wood smoke still lingered a day later.

Leaning in to closely inspect the blackened native timber interior walls, he tried to stay positive.

"I reckon this could be sanded out."

Barry inside the bedroom where he suspects the fire began. Photo / Warren Buckland

He said the house had been in his family for about 75 years, owned by his parents before passing to him.

He had been letting out the rooms to boarders over the years while he resided separately at the back of the property.

There had been two boarders staying in the house at the time of the fire.

Real estate agent Rahia Jessup, a close friend of Wyllie, had bought the house from him only a week before the fire.

She said she has known him and his family through her father since she was 11 years old.

The second bedroom is less damaged than the first, but parts of it, including the door, still bear the scars of the fire. Photo / Warren Buckland

"I've known him all these years, he's like another father figure."

She said he had offered for her to buy the house, because he wasn't able to renovate the house himself as he would have liked to.

She said he would stay at the property as he was now, while she renovated the house and his shed for him.

She said the house had too much heritage to ever consider demolishing it.

"Barry wanted to see the house done up before he dies."

She said they were working on clearing out debris from the outside and inside before figuring out how they would restore the property.

Barry tests burnt parts of the outside of the house with his cane to see if they can be salvaged. Photo / Warren Buckland

She said the fire was a shock, but since the house could be saved she was trying to look on the bright side rather than the negative side.

"His dream will happen and my goal is to get it done as fast as possible just to bring back some smiles into his life, so he can carry on living on that family site knowing he did the best he could to make it happen."

She said a local electrician had already kindly offered to fix up the electrics and power at the property free of charge to give back to Barry.

Police and fire investigators are collaborating on an ongoing investigation into the fire.