Port Hills fire: Couple who lost home in 2017 fire evacuated again five weeks after moving back into home

Five weeks after his home was finally rebuilt after the 2017 Port Hills fire, Doug Pflaum and his wife Vikki have once again been evacuated.

Follow our Port Hills fire live updates here.

About 80 properties have been evacuated owing to the massive fire burning uncontrollably on Christchurch’s Port Hills.

Among the residents evacuated were Doug and Vikki. The couple’s home was one of nine destroyed in the devastating 2017 fires.

Doug told the Herald the couple had only moved back into their home five weeks ago.

“It took us about three years to build it, about a year and a half to get permission to build it from the council and it took time for the engineers and other people to put the plans together and all that sort of stuff. It’s a long process.”

The fire is now burning into the adventure park. Photo / George Heard

Doug was at a meeting in town on Wednesday when the fire began. His wife was at home.

“[It was] pretty stressful. She had to fill her car up with all the photographs and bits and pieces and then got told by police you have to evacuated,” he said.

“It’s frustrating. It’s taken us seven years to rebuild again and we’ve only been in there for five weeks or so. The last thing we’d want is for it to get burnt.”

He said the couple were “doing OK” and were hoping they would be able to get home later today.

“It sounds all quite positive at the moment, but the fire is still going and it’s moved away from the house so it’s further up Marley’s Hill and towards Early Valley Rd. So it’s moved away and the firefighting team got onto it a lot quicker yesterday than they did the first time,” he said.

A state of local emergency has been declared for Christchurch City, including Banks Peninsula and the Selwyn District, due to the impacts of the Port Hills fire which is burning uncontrolled. Photo / George Heard

“I’m just grateful for all my friends praying for the situation and for the wind to be heading in the right direction.”

Fire crews resumed their battle against the blaze this morning with 23 appliances, supported by 13 helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft, tackling it from the ground and air.

Fire and Emergency’s Brad Mosby said there have been no significant outbreaks overnight and the fire has burnt through 630 hectares and has a 12km perimeter. No properties have been lost.

“Our approach today will be to hit the fire hard,” Mosby said.

But police manager Ash Tabb said disaster tourists were becoming an issue for those fighting the fire, as they keep blocking roads and stopping equipment coming in.

People wanting to take a look at the fire were also stopping residents from coming in and out.

Helicopter crews battled the blaze until dark as the fire continued to burn in the Port Hills. Photo / George Heard

“We just need people out of the way.”

Tabb said the behaviour is driven by people “wanting to get shots on their social media accounts”.

Mark Mitchell, the Civil Defence Minister in Christchurch, joined the plea for people to stay away and stop interfering.

“Allow Fenz and police to do their job.”

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.