The Wellington region was hit by four suspicious fires overnight.
Firefighters were first called to a fire at Tony’s Tyre Service in Porirua about 6.30pm. It took firefighters two hours to put the fire out and the building was extensively damaged, Radio New Zealand reported.
At 8.30pm firefighters were called to a blaze at Porirua’s Gospel Church, and soon after to one at Wainuiomata’s Gospel Chapel in the Hutt Valley.
About 12.30am, firefighters were then called to a blaze which engulfed the Scout Hall in the eastern Wellington suburb of Seatoun. Eight appliances were involved in fighting the fire, which also spread to nearby scrub, Wellington Fire Communications shift manager David Meikle said.
Meanwhile, the Fire Service also battled a suspicious blaze at an old wool scour in Feilding, Manawatu.
Porirua firefighters suspect arsonists set a fire that destroyed an empty house in the grounds of Porirua Hospital.
Porirua senior station officer Boyd Atkinson said firefighters were called to the fire just after midnight on Saturday and it took five hours to put out.
The house has now been bulldozed and police are investigating.
A Capital & Coast District Health Board spokesman said the house had been occupied but the tenants moved out a week ago.
The land had been sold last year and was with the Office of Treaty Settlements, which takes control on June 30.
COOL DOWN: CITYLIFE editor Andrew Bonallack had to miss the first half of his rugby photo assignment on Saturday afternoon after spotting a blaze in a stand of pines 1 kilometer south of Porirua on State Highway 1. After phoning emergency services two fire trucks arrives fom Johnsonville and Porirua and tackled the small fire which was well established o fallen timber and small trees. The cause was unknown.
Despite having never met the man, Mohammed Aslam didn’t hesitate to plunge into a smoke-filled house to rescue his neighbour.
Mr Mohammed, who is Muslim, was taking part in daily prayers at his Bedford St house on April 28 when he heard the scream of the smoke alarm next door.
“I heard this alarm going on and we looked at the smoke inside the house and we knocked on all the windows and I thought that someone was inside the house.”
Mr Mohammed called the fire service and then, along with another resident, went through the unlocked front door into the thick smoke to find the occupant.
“The whole of the house was smoke,” he said.
“We knew someone’s there, and if the burning had gone on maybe a big fire would have started because the stove was still on.”
The occupant, Robert Thacker, was roused by their calls, and was found stumbling towards the door.
He was pulled from the house semi-conscious.
Mr Thacker, who is diabetic, does not remember much of what happened that evening but believes he would not have woken up if it was not for his neighbours.
He had been cooking soup on the stove for dinner when he slipped into a diabetic coma.
Passed out on the floor he was in serious danger from both plummeting blood sugar levels and the scorched pot burning on the stove.
“Knowing now, I’m lucky that someone came around. I’ve got to be grateful.”
Mr Thacker was treated at the scene by ambulance staff while firefighters cleared the house.
Wellington North Fire District safety officer Russell Postlewaight said the smoke alarm “did what it should have – and then it’s the actions of caring neighbours that responded to the smoke alarm”.
Their actions were commendable, he said. They called the fire service, got the neighbour out and kept themselves safe.
Neighbours in Porirua saved an unconscious man from a house fire last night after they heard his smoke alarm.
The middle-aged man had passed out in his lounge on Bedford St due to a pre-existing medical condition when his dinner caught fire in the kitchen at about 6pm, Porirua Fire Station Officer Craig Gold said.
The neighbours raced inside and took a flaming pot off the man’s stove and carried the man from the Housing New Zealand House, saving his life, Mr Gold said.
”The pot would have been flaming and the house was totally smoke-logged, so it’s building up with flammable gasses. It’s a best guess, but you’re probably looking at two or three minutes before the kitchen erupted in flame,” Mr Gold said.
”We let them know [afterwards], ‘If you hadn’t pulled this guy out he wouldn’t be around’. They did a fantastic job.”
Unattended cooking was the most common cause of house fires in New Zealand, Mr Gold said.
”If he didn’t have a smoke detector in his house we would have been turning up to a fatal house fire.”
The man was treated at the scene by Wellington Free Ambulance for smoke inhalation.
Porirua based firefighters, from left clockwise, Kurt Walsh, Robbie MacInarlin, Glenn Henderson, Paul Setefano and Carl Gardiner willbe taking on the punishing Sky Tower Challenge in May to fundraise for te Leukaemia and Blood Foundation.
A group of firefighters from Porirua will take on the energy-sapping Sky Tower Challenge next month but admit preparing for the event is nigh-on impossible.
Four members from Titahi Bay’s volunteer brigade – Kurt Walsh, Robbie MacInarlin, Glenn Henderson and Carl Gardiner – along with Porirua station’s Paul Setefano, will tackle the daunting physical and mental challenge on May 21. It’s for a good cause, with fundraising efforts prior to the big day going towards the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation.
More than 420 firefighters from across the country will climb 51 flights of stairs, or 1103 steps, in full gear that includes 25 kilograms of equipment on their backs. There are no prizes, with bragging rights reward enough.
The Titahi Bay lads have been training extra hard in the gym since January. Mr Gardiner says they will represent their brigade proudly and are looking forward to rubbing shoulders with their peers from across the country, and the overseas competitors that come for the event.
“We’re going to try and set some good times, but I think it’s going to be an accomplishment just to finish,” Mr Gardiner says. “Really, the challenge is about raising awareness for the foundation and that awesome feeling we’ll get from taking part. We’re a group of mates who are doing something for a great cause.”
A time of 15 minutes is considered excellent and it’s what he is aiming for. Each member might have their own strategy, but “sure and steady” rather than going hard early seems popular.
Mr Gardiner says there has been “no way” they can prepare for the gruelling climb, aside from doing extra weights and climbing stairs in their gear when possible. It has been a great focus for them in terms of keeping fit.
Mr Setefano will be taking part for the second year, joining a group from the Newlands Volunteer Fire Brigade. The 43-year-old wants to beat his time from last year – just over 20 minutes and is dedicating his efforts to the memory of Kurt Filiga. The aspiring film-maker documented his battle with leukaemia before he passed away last year.
Mr Setefano wants to raise $1500, while the Titahi Bay crew have so far collected $2500 in donations and sponsorship and would love to double it before May 21. They have a car wash in the Spotlight car park in Porirua this Saturday from 11am to 2pm.
To make a donation online, go to firefightersclimb.org.nz
All funds raised from the challenge will go to core services for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation – patient support, research, information, awareness and advocacy. Every day six children and adults in New Zealand are diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. An estimated 10,000 people live with blood cancer or a related condition in New Zealand.
Porirua firefighter Turi Hodges returned from northern Japan last week with photographs conveying the carnage of the earthquake and tsunami – but the words have been harder to come by.
“It was on a biblical scale. It’s hard to explain the magnitude of it to family,” he says.
Mr Hodges was part of the 43-man New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue unit (Usar) deployed to the Miyagi Prefecture, about 120km north of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. This came immediately on the heels of three weeks’ rescue and recovery work in Christchurch, including the ravaged CTV building.
The unit spent much of its time in Minami Sanriku, a coastal township of about 17,000, which Mr Hodges compares in size to Masterton. He says the coastal terrain was mountainous, with villages in the valleys.
After the tsunami, these valleys acted like funnels, increasing the power of the water surge.
“The destruction was complete. The only building left standing was a three-storey school. There was nothing inside but fish.”
Unlike Christchurch, where Hodges and his Usar team arrived soon after the quake and worked non-stop for 36 straight-hours, desperate to locate survivors, there was never any doubt the mission in Japan was one of recovery.
Half of Minami Sanriku’s 17,666 population remain missing. Of those who weren’t, Mr Hodges saw very few villagers, reasoning there was nothing for them to come back for, “nothing but bits of clothing and shoes”.
Coming directly from Christchurch and its warm weather, Hodges says the team were not well equipped for the snow and -17C temperatures at night. All searching was done by hand as there was no power source for their tools. Water was rationed and, at one stage, three days worth of food had to last five – not easy when undertaking such physical, energy burning work.
“There was a lot of trading of condensed milk and cabin bread [crackers] – they were highly valued items,” he says.
Making the mission harder, co-ordination with the local authorities was minimal, the unit sometimes searching areas they would later learn had already been searched by other teams.
The Kiwi unit received updates every four hours on the threat of nuclear contamination from Fukushima, and each kept a radiation suit in their bag.
“A couple of times it looked like we’d move out … One mate was in a Blackhawk helicopter that got caught in a radiation cloud and he had to be decontaminated.”
Despite the desolate scene and challenging conditions, he recognises his family back in Titahi Bay, wife Pania and four children, aged 7 to 17, as the ones baring the bulk of the worry.
“It’s been a long month, pretty hard on the wife and family. Christchurch was bad enough. Japan was at the point of being unbearable for the kids … young ones crying in the middle of the night.
” The guys back home [other firefighters] have been great helping out, coming over to cut firewood, calling to check in on my wife.”
Mr Hodges joined Usar in 2006. Until the two Christchurch earthquakes and the Japan disaster, he would normally be deployed for a Usar operation once a year.
Has the devastating double-punch of Christchurch and Japan made him re-think his commitment to the cause?
“It’s reaffirmed it. I love being a firefighter, I love what we stand for … really good guys to work with. I’ve come out of this just wanting to be a better technician, a better firefighter.”
DOWNPOUR: Cameron Grace and Cleveland Green make the most of Porirua’s flash flooding at Elsdon Park
Emergency services helped rescue about half a dozen people from their cars this afternoon after heavy rainfall created surface flooding in Porirua.
The downpour, which lasted for about two hours, began shortly after midday and caused blocked stormwater drainpipes to flood.
Porirua Fire Station officer in charge, Dean Wade, told Stuff.co.nz the flooding was particularly bad in the low-lying areas of Porirua and caused many people to be stranded in their cars.
Wade said about eight fire trucks were called out to help people.
“None were life-threatening and in some cases they would have been fine if they had just sat it out until the water subsided so they could drive in the middle of the road.”
Wade said one crew had reported seeing at least one car floating in a flooded section of road.
“It’s caused a bit of excitement but people have got together and helped each other out.”
Fighting Fit: From Left Nigel Le Grice, Newlands, Tim Cook, Newlands and Paul Setefano, Porirua, get ready to throw on their gear and race up Auckland’s Sky Tower to raise money for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation May this year.
Wellington North Firefighters are training hard to race other firefighters up the Auckland Sky Tower in this years eighth Firefighter Sky Challenge.
Firefighters from Porirua, Titahi Bay, Newlands and Tawa will be joined by firefighters from all over New Zealand and the world on May 21st in a bid to raise money for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation.
This is Porirua Volunteer firefighter Paul Setefano’s second year at racing and he says he is looking forward to the challenge.
“I caught the bug last year and now I’m hooked,” he says.
This year he will be dedicating his run to Kurt Filiga – a 20 year old Wellington film maker who died in September last year from leukaemia.
Mr Setefano says he is getting anxious prior to the race, but his mental state goes through all sorts of phases.
“Last yearlining upfor my run, I wondered, would anyone notice if I disappeared? Then once I started, I remember climbing with an angry determination and the once you’ve worked out a rhythm, adrenaline pushes you up the last 15 flights.
“Reaching the finishing gate on the 51st floor was just an over whelming sense of elation, cheered on by your peers and supporters you quickly forget everything you were feeling before finishing including the fact that you just hauled 25kg of extra weight in a suit that feels like a portable sauna and wearing a helmet which restricts your body’s ability to ventilate through the top of your head,” Mr Setefano says.
Newlands Volunteer firefighter Nigel Le Grice says this year he just wants to see the finish line.
“I just want to knock 10 minutes off my time,” he says.
Mr Le Grice says his main drive behind the race is for his family.
“My partner’s dad passed away from leukaemia and so did my mum.”
The crew is aiming to raise $5000 for the run and has findin different methods to raise the money.
Mr Le Grice says crew members have gone from walking around in their uniform asking for donations, to holding quiz nights at local pubs.
They have also received a three-month gym training membership from City Fitness.
Mr Le Grice says a group of the firefighters went to a colleague’s house for a working bee – the colleague then donated $1000 for the cause.
Auckland’s Sky Tower has 1103 stairs up 51 floors. It is 200m in height.
The voluneers have been training hard, finding whatever sets of stairs they can find. Mr Setefano says he has been training in his car park building. Last year they had access to the Majestic Centre, climbing it twice to make up the height of the Sky Tower.
Foundation executive director Pru Etcheverry says the organisation is delighted by the generosity of the New Zealand firefighters and their communities.
“The Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge has really grown into an amazing iconic event.
“Firefighters are our all-time heroes, and we are always humbled by their generosity and fighting spirit to time and again support people they have never met,” Ms Etcheverry says.
After the death of a toddler in a house fire, coroner Ian Smith is calling on the Ministry of Housing to amend the law to make it compulsory for landlords to install working fire alarms in all rental properties.
Mautua Latu died at her family home in Porirua one month before her third birthday in a fire started accidentally by her older sister. Mautua’s parents and eight siblings all survived the 2008 fire.
The inquest was told Mr Latu had left for work and Mrs Latu was sleeping when the early morning fire broke out. Four of the eight children had left for school when Mrs Latu’s 13-year-old daughter woke her, saying there was smoke in the house.
Mrs Latu called the Fire Service and managed to get all her children out of a window except Mautua, whose body was found by firefighters after the fire had been put out. The coroner found she died of smoke inhalation.
Almost one year after the fire, the oldest Latu child admitted she had been playing with matches that day and had flicked them on to a bed. She then left the room and fell asleep.
The police were satisfied the fire was an accident.
The three-bedroom one-storey house had no smoke alarms, the landlord said in his evidence to the coroner’s court.
According to the Housing Improvement Regulations there was no mention of the compulsory installation of fire alarms.
The Ministry of Housing needed to amend the Residential Tenancies Act to ensure landlords installed fire alarms in all rental properties and checked batteries on a regular basis during property inspections, the coroner recommended.
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