Strong wind drove John Wuts home early from Ocean Beach yesterday and on the way home heavy smoke made him fear for his life.
The Napier resident said he was having a pleasant day at the beach with his wife before they became one of the last people to drive on Waimarama Rd before fire closed it.
"The water was lovely but the wind came up something terrible - we got sandblasted really - so we decided to come home early - just as well we did when we did," he said.
"So we were driving along and with all that smoke I was getting worried about getting out of there - you see those scenes in Australia where people get burned to death.
"Once we got over the Waimarama Rd bridge we could see the whole hillside was going up - the house as well.
