Christchurch fire: Neighbour helps as man, dog escape burning home

By Adam Burns of RNZ

The neighbour of a man who escaped a house fire in Christchurch this morning recalls hearing a “large boom” at the time.

Emergency services, including five fire crews, responded to the blaze in a two-storey home at Bishopdale’s Clotilda Place on Tuesday morning, finding the house in flames when firefighters arrived at about 9.30am.

Simonne Hamman, who lives two sections down, said her kitchen window looks directly on to the man’s property.

“I was just cooking a late breakfast and then I heard this massive boom,” she said.

Smoke rising out of the damaged building. Photo / RNZ, Nathan McKinnon

“Then I look out the window and this massive fire just erupts from his garage and billows of black smoke in to the air.

“So I just yelled to my family: ‘Fire!’ Poor things thought the fire was in our house.”

Hamman then ran down the driveway and called emergency services, who had already been alerted.

When the first fire crew arrived at the scene, they needed help to “get the hoses out”.

“I helped pull the hoses out in my sandals.

Photo / RNZ, Nathan McKinnon

“They needed help so they could connect it to the fire hydrant.

“It was just the two of them who just happened to be driving past.”

The man who was “hard of hearing” managed to escape his home that was engulfed in flames, Hamman said.

“He didn’t hear the explosion and wasn’t aware that the fire was going on until his neighbours alerted him.

“They got him out okay and he had a friend with him and managed to get his dog out.

“He’s got a peacock, I haven’t seen the peacock come out yet, but I’m sure the peacock is fine.”

Upset and shaken, the man tried to “hurry” firefighting efforts up.

“They have their processes and have to do things methodically.

“The police came to calm him down.”

Another three firefighting crews then converged on the cul-de-sac.

The man did not require any medical attention.

By early Tuesday afternoon, one Fire and Emergency New Zealand crew and two fire investigators were at the scene.

- RNZ