KEY POINTS:
Dargaville businessman Ken Foster and his wife Elain could only watch in horror on Monday night as the business they had built up over 25 years went up in smoke.
Four of five buildings they own in the town's Victoria St were destroyed.
Yesterday Mr Foster was back at the scene, downbeat, but determined to rebuild after a fire that had left Dargaville distressed.
"Devastated mate, just devastated ... but we'll be back," he said. "I can't just leave a hole that big in Dargaville."
Mr Foster said his business and buildings were insured and replacements would rise from the ashes so that Dargaville's main street would not have such a huge hole in it.
"That's 25 years of my life down the tubes," said a distraught Mr Foster as he surveyed the burned-out shells of the four buildings.
"But we won't let it get us too down and we will get up again, we can't leave the street like this."
He said the buildings collapsed under the flames, with solid steel girders holding up the roof left bent and buckled from the heat.
Mr Foster said the fire was really heartbreaking for his wife, who had put much work into the family business.
The buildings destroyed by the fire dated back to 1906, but Mr Foster considers he was lucky that the firefighters saved the Blockbuster Video store, also in a building he owns, from going up in flames.
But even in the face of such loss, Mr Foster was thinking about his community.
"Our priority is to get the Resene Colourshop up and running as soon as possible. It was better than anything there is in Whangarei and the people here really need it," he said. "I'm not sure if we will have to find a temporary building or what, but we will find something."
The Dargaville community was rallying round to help the Fosters and the other business owners and while there was an air of sadness in the Kaipara town, there was also a determination that the town would overcome the setback.
In 1961, five buildings almost directly opposite Monday's fire were destroyed in a blaze.
The Fosters owned Foster's Home Decorating and Resene Colourshop. Neighbouring businesses Main Street Interiors - where the fire started - Lyndsey Bargh Physiotherapy and the Red Cross opportunity shop were also razed.
A combination of good luck, circumstances, and firefighting skills prevented the fire destroying an entire block of 12 buildings.
The keen eyes and quick thinking of Northland fire safety officer Craig Bain almost certainly saved some of the 100 firefighters on Monday night from death or serious injury.
At the height of the flames, a group of firefighters were hitting the blaze from in front when Mr Bain noticed cracks starting to appear in the two-storey brick facade.
He got them away and within two minutes it collapsed, bringing down several tonnes of bricks.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
