Fire destroys Pitcairn Island home

Building supplies will need to be shipped from New Zealand to rebuild a Pitcairn Island home destroyed by fire, as the remote island's woes continue.

Pitcairn made headlines last year when seven men were tried on sex charges. The island also suffered a boating accident in which Pitcairner Darralyn Griffiths nearly had her arm severed.

In the most recent incident, Simon and Shirley Young were sleeping in a nearby dwelling when they woke at 5am last Thursday to find their home consumed by fire.

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Pitcairn Island is an historic British territory of 47 people, halfway between New Zealand and South America.

It is this remoteness that makes replacing the home more complicated than it would be almost anywhere else in the world, Herbert Ford, director of the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre, said.

"All building supplies must be shipped in at tremendous cost from New Zealand," he said.

"Once the supplies arrive off the island they must be ferried in to the island landing at Bounty Bay through usually heavy and sometimes treacherous surf."

It was an attempt to land supplies on the island that led to the serious injury to Mrs Griffiths' arm, he said.

The Youngs said members of the Pitcairn community worked hard to put out the fire to no avail. But they were able to keep it from spreading to other parts of the island.

"The Pitcairners did what they do best, coming together in times of danger or loss to help those in need," the Youngs said. "Over the next few hours after the fire the people gave us words of comfort, gifts of food and clothing for our backs."

The family dog, Silver, was in the house but escaped the flames with only scratches and minor burns.

- NZPA