A man has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg after falling off a flying fox on a rural property outside Wellington this evening.
Police said the 43-year-old “came to grief” on a flying fox across a gully in private forestry land off Makara Rd.
The Porirua-based High Angle Rescue Unit, which specialises in rope rescues, were at the scene with Wellington Free Ambulance staff.
The man had been stabilised and put into a “stokes bucket” and personnel were trying to figure out how to get him back across the gully which was spanned by the flying fox.
Graeme Quinn, a paramedic with the KPMG rescue unit with Wellington Free Ambulance, said the man crashed into a platform at the end of the flying fox.
Porirua firefighters have plucked a man from a precarious position after he scaled 100m down a cliff face to retrieve his model airplane – then got stuck.
A team of 10 firefighters made the three-hour long rescue when a man called police for help after he found himself in a tricky spot on the Titahi Bay cliffs in Porirua.
A rescue crew was called out shortly before 1pm to aid the man, who was fortunately carrying a cellphone.
The firefighters lowered themselves down on ropes to where the man was perched on a steep outcrop, before attaching him to a harness and helping him 60m down to safety, much to his relief, Porirua senior station officer Owen Woodman said.
“He was very grateful we arrived, but a bit shaky to start with.”
It was not the first time they had been called upon to rescue climbers from the cliff-face. People often mistook the cliff for a shortcut to get to the beach, which was not recommended, Woodman said.
As for the man’s prized model airplane, it was nowhere to be seen.
“I have no idea where it ended up or what became of it – it was very windy up there today. It was clearly very valuable to him, but arguably, his life was more valuable.”
Those were the days: Porirua volunteer firefighter Alamaine Thomas with the old Porirua fire truck, commissioned in 1966
Porirua Volunteer Fire Brigade is going back to the future.
The station has bought an old fire engine, which was stationed at Porirua almost 50 years ago.
Station officer Margaret Smith said a friend found the truck rotting in a field in Hamilton more than a year ago.
“He was going to buy it, and when I found out it was the Porirua truck, I said, ‘Hang on, can we buy it instead?’
“The brigade voted on it, and decided to give it a go. There’s some of them – they wouldn’t like to admit it, but they’ve been around long enough that they actually drove it when it was new. So there’s some history there that they can help us out with, and they already have on a couple of things.”
Miss Smith said the station planned to use the truck for community events such as school fairs, Creekfest and Porirua’s Festival of the Elements.
“We want to make it a part of the community – everyone will know that that’s Porirua’s truck and it belongs to Porirua.”
She estimated about $20,000 would be needed to get the truck useable, and hoped the public would help by donating funds or expertise.
“It needs a new fuel pump and a new fuel tank, which we’re working on at the moment, and once it can run on its own, we’re going to be taking it up to get some structural work fixed.
“The volunteers have sort of taken on the task of trying to get this truck up and running. To have the community backing as well would be absolutely phenomenal.”
To donate time or funds, go to poriruafire.nz or the Porirua Fire Brigade Facebook page.
EVACUATED: People outside the BNZ Tower where a fire broke out
A fire has broken out in a Porirua office block this morning but a medical unit in the building managed to keep running throughout the evacuation.
Incident controller Trevor Sheehan said the fire, in the BNZ Tower on Hartham Pl, was reported at 11am.
The fire, which is now out, was contained to a 2nd floor office.
But a 3rd floor medical unit, where patients were undergoing treatment, was able to keep running while the rest of the building was evacuated.
Eleven fire trucks were at the scene.
While there were early reports of injuries, this was wrong, he said.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
”We were lucky it had a good smoke system so it kept the level of smoke to a minimum.”
Holly Thompson, from the Porirua Chamber of Commerce, said the building was evacuated at about 11.30am.
It appeared there was a fire in a law office on the second floor.
”It looked like the heating vent had caught fire so they put on the fire alarm and we were all evacuated pretty quickly. We could see fire coming out of the front window.”
She had been told they would be out of the building for another two hours.
Lindsey Bryson from Christina Leech Law where the fire broke out said she could smell burning.
“But we could often smell that because of workmen doing things in the building. But we could smell it in one room so I quickly shut the door to the office.
“There were flames coming out of the air vent. I thought the whole ceiling was burning.”
Fire officers had not been able to tell them what caused the fire, but it looked like only water damage was caused by the sprinklers, Ms Bryson said.
Neil Davidson was plugged into a dialysis machine when the room started filling with smoke.
A patient at Porirua Community Dialysis Centre, he said it was “a bit scary” when it was became clear there was a fire in the building.
“I just wanted to get out. The firemen came up and told us not to worry but we were all ready to come down.
“I wanted to jump out the window but I was still hooked up.”
They tried to keep each other calm before chatting while firemen worked to clear the smoke.
“When it happened I waved to the other people and said goodbye, we’re going to die now. Some said they wanted to get out but I just thought it was my time.”
Patients were being checked over and he was given the all clear to leave, Mr Davidson said.
CHARRED REMAINS: The fire-damaged flats from which a 72-year-old man was rescued.
A man has been charged with arson after a fire in a block of Housing New Zealand flats at Titahi Bay.
The fire destroyed the top unit of the block in Herewini St, where the arrested man, 41, is understood to have lived.
He has been remanded in custody to appear in the Porirua District Court next month.
Witness Trevor Norkett, 57, a security guard, was one of the first on the scene about 4.45am yesterday and found the top flat ablaze.
He kicked in the door of the middle flat, where he found a 72-year-old man and, with the help of a neighbour, got him out of the flat.
“I went inside, stood him up and got him walking to the door. When we got outside the flames above us in the top flat were huge. It was a raging inferno. We had to shield the back of our necks from the heat.”
He went back to kick in the door of the bottom flat, but there was nobody there. A caged budgie was rescued from the flat.
The 72-year-old was treated at the scene by Wellington Free Ambulance. Nobody else was injured.
Fire investigator Russell Postlewaight said there did not appear to be any smoke alarms or monitored fire alarms at the property.
Housing NZ regional manager tenancy services Jackie Pivac said the agency was working with tenants to ensure their housing needs would be met.
BRIGHT AND CHIRPY: Titahi Bay volunteer fire fighter Carl Gardiner with a budgie found “chirping away” after a fire in Titahi Bay.
A budgie has been found chirping in a cage an hour after fire crews extinguished a blaze in a Wellington property early today.
Wellington Free Ambulance spokesman Daniel Paul said just one person, a 72-year-old man, was treated after the blaze in the three-flat Herewini St property, north of Wellington.
It is understood the man was pulled from his flat by a passing security guard.
”An hour after the fire was dealt with, a [budgie] in a cage was found in the house.”
The budgie was fine.
Fire communications spokesman Murray Dunbar said the property was well ablaze when fire crews arrived after 4am.
The fire reached two of the three flats.
Senior station officer Mike Rodgers said the fire started in the 72-year-old man’s flat in the top storey of the three-flat building.
The ceiling of the man’s flat collapsed during the fire.
The budgie was found “chirping away” in the bottom flat, which sustained only smoke damage.
BURNT OUT: The cab of a 50-tonne truck and trailer unit was destroyed by fire in Porirua.
A truck driver was lucky to escape with his life after his cab caught fire while he was asleep in the early hours of this morning.
The driver was sleeping in his truck on Heriot Drive in Porirua, behind the Harvey Norman distribution warehouse.
Porirua fire station officer Gerry Twiss said the driver awoke to smoke filling the cab and only just managed to escape before it was consumed by flames.
The driver called the fire service, who arrived to find the truck fully ablaze but the man uninjured.
The heat was intense enough to char the sealant on a concrete wall of the warehouse close to the truck.
The cab was completely destroyed.
It was a lesson for truck drivers and truck companies, Mr Twiss said.
“We’ve suggested to the company if people are sleeping in trucks they should maybe get a smoke alarm,” he said. “If he hadn’t woken up, it could have been a lot different … he could still be in there.”
A fire safety investigator is examining the truck this morning to determine the cause of the blaze.
“It doesn’t appear to be suspicious,” Mr Twiss said. “The driver is fine … he was taken home to Wellington.”
Firemen investigate the roof of the Harvey Norman building.
Firefighters have damped down the hotspot which reignited the fire at the Harvey Norman store in Porirua.
The fire service had been called back to the store around 8.10 Sunday evening.
The fire, which started late on Sunday morning, took nearly four hours to be damped down.
However, a section of the roof has now reignited and three fire engines are on their way to the scene.
Fifty firefighters in 12 fire engines from around the Wellington area were involved in fighting the blaze that started in a store room in the back of the store.
Fire Communications spokesman Murray Dunbar said the alarm was triggered by a smoke detector about 11.15am.
The first firefighters on the scene escalated it to a third alarm, which saw reinforcements racing to help as it spread to the large store’s ceiling cavity.
The size of the store and its contents meant that the fire was a major concern, he said.
It took nearly four hours to totally extinguish the fire and the contents of the store were extensively damaged.
Snorkel appliances were brought in to detect heat sources under the roof as firefighters wearing breathing apparatus went into the smoke-logged store to locate and put out any pockets of fire they could find.
The Harvey Norman store is in Parumoana St and is part of the Porirua MegaCentre.
No one from the store or Harvey Norman’s head office was available to comment.
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