Ōhau resident Viv Smith-Campbell still has bruised knuckles from pounding on doors, urging residents and visitors to leave as flames sped toward the tiny village in the middle of the night.
She and her husband Louis are believed to be the first to have raised the alarm. The 111 call on Viv's cellphone is time-stamped 3.06am Sunday.
A howling wind, shingle raining down on their tin roof and their elderly border collie needing an early morning pit-stop probably saved their lives, and the lives of others, from the wildfire that destroyed 40 properties.
Louis, restless after heading back to bed after taking the dog out, spotted the blaze through their bedroom loft window.
Lake Ōhau village after after a massive fire ripped through the area early on Sunday morning. Photo / Otago Daily Time
Viv Smith-Campbell, who has been visiting Ōhau for 30 years and living permanently in what she calls paradise for the past five, says she and her husband always had a plan.
"We've got a dog, her name's Hebe. She's a 13-year-old border collie, she's an old lady dog. And she has to get up and do a wee in the night," Viv told RNZ.
"So my husband had taken her out for a wee at about 2am and come back in, and couldn't get back to sleep. And just before three he looked out the window on our loft and saw something. The full moon was up, he thought, he couldn't believe it, he thought 'no that can't be fire', he looked away, looked again and realised it was, so he woke me up.
"The village had a plan for what to do for fires and Louis my husband and I had a plan.
"And so at three o'clock in the morning, that kicked into place. And Louis got in our car and drove around the village tooting the horn and yelling to the fire siren. [He] switched it on, and continued in a loop around the village he continued around tooting and shouting.
"So my job was dialling 111 which I did, I was the first one to call, my cellphone tells me it was 3.06am.
"A lovely man on the other end, he asked me to describe how big the fire was, he said, 'Is it the size of a football field,' I said, 'It's actually two football fields now'.
"And then I said, 'No it's three football fields', and I think I got up to four.
Lake Ōhau residents comfort each other after returning from visiting the fire-ravaged village. Photo / Otago Daily Times
"We know that the fire service comes from Omarama or Twizel, and they take 30 to 40 minutes to get here."
Viv said her husband Louis got back and had seen several houses that had not appeared to be woken up.
"There are lots of holidaymakers in the village, lots of houses rented. So I hopped in the car and started tooting and driving and stopping at houses and waking people up.
"It's gone down now but my knuckles were bruised from knocking on doors."
She told people not to pack, urging them to just get in the car and go, which they did.
"There was a whole group of young people, ski field staff, running around, I told them just to get in the vehicles and go and they did.
"When we left - we live on the western side of the village - I could feel the heat and smell it, and hear it. The fire was just right there.
"I don't know how long all this took. It seemed to take quite a long time. Talking with people it may have only taken 10 minutes, I don't know. But there were a lot of cars in front of us, we were not the last leave, but we were near the end.
"But I'll say it again, it's so important that people think about what you think is the unthinkable.
Around 40 homes and buildings were destroyed in the blaze. Photo / Craig Baxter / Otago Daily Times
"We've always known at Ōhau there's lots of wilding pines and we learnt at Pukaki what happens with them, and we knew that if we didn't help ourselves no-one else was going to. There was not going to be fire people knocking on doors, we had to get ourselves out, and that's what the community that lived there knew.
"I wasn't the only one that knocked on doors, there were other people that knocked on doors, lots of people, the residents that made sure that visitors were out. So Louis and I are not the people that did it. We did what we had to do and other people did what they had to do and as a community we got everyone out.
"I feel proud of that, but I feel proud that people followed the plan, and did what they needed to do and they got out," Viv said.
Having the evacuation plan has always been reassuring, she said.
"Waitaki District Council put the Civil Defence siren on because you know we've got earthquake fires, you name it, we've got hazards.
"Fire Emergency NZ, they used to come up every summer and we've got little firefighting hoses around the village, and they'd tell us about it and they would go through the plan with us and tell us just get out.
"I can't speak highly enough of the firefighters, they are heroes, we got out of the village but they came in and defended people's homes, they saved our home. Every home around us is gone and they saved our home. It's unbelievable what they did.
"And they are still doing. And it's dangerous, dirty, tiring, horrible work, but they are just wonderful, wonderful people.
"Everyone that's involved, my admiration for them is just so high. I didn't think that I would see our house again. I thought it would be gone. But Louis and I have got our beautiful three wee cottages. I work from home in one of them, and Louis does, and we live in the other.
"We've spoken to a local firefighter about that, that they did to save it is heroic just heroic.
"It's property after all, it's things, you know, we weren't there, they weren't saving us, they were saving things that were important, and our home, and putting themselves at risk doing that."
