Firefighters at the scene of a fire in a Housing New Zealand house in Cannons Creek
A state house in Cannons Creek was badly damaged by fire this afternoon.
Three fire engines were called to the block of Housing NZ flats in Cornwall Crescent around 4pm.
The top floor suffered fire damage, with windows smashed out and burnt piping near the roof.
Firefighters were seen dragging fire damaged household items from the property after containing the blaze, which appeared to be located on the top floor.
Porirua senior station officer Boyd Atkinson said there were people at home when the fire began in an upstairs bedroom, but they were able to escape unhurt after a fire alarm went off.
“Working fire alarms going off and the family’s quick reaction stopped things from getting any worse than it was.
“No-one was hurt and that’s the important thing.”
It appeared the fire begun in a bedroom before spreading out into the hallway and bathroom, with foam mattresses in the bedroom adding to the severity of the fire, Mr Atkinson said.
There was significant fire damage to the bedroom and furniture, but it was contained from spreading into the rest of the house or adjoining flats.
Fire crews would continue to assess the cause of the fire next week.
QUICK ACTIONS: Firefighters outside the Whittaker’s chocolate factory in Porirua, where a worker suffer caustic soda burns. Photo By KENT BLECHYNDEN
A worker has suffered caustic soda burns while cleaning out machines at the Whittaker’s chocolate factory in Porirua.
A few litres of chemicals spilled on to his shoulder and arm while he was mixing them up tonight.
The worker was taken to Hutt Hospital, where he was in a stable condition in the emergency department, a hospital spokeswoman said.
”It caused stinging, burning feelings, which he knew he had to do something about pretty quickly,” Porirua Fire Station senior station officer Dene Wade said.
”It was in a fairly concentrated form so it was fairly nasty stuff to have on his skin.”
A Wellington Free Ambulance spokeswoman said the man’s injuries were ”potentially serious”.
Whittaker’s staff helped him remove his clothes and got him into a shower until emergency services arrived.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance while fire services worked to contain and clean up the spill.
The Labour Department would be investigating the incident tomorrow, Mr Wade said.
A senior Whittaker’s manager, who refused to be named, told The Dominion Post on the scene that there had been ”a very small accident and we’re investigating”.
A Porirua home owner has found out that being near neighbours to the Police College has its advantages after a bunch of recruits out on a cross-country run spotted a fire and sprang into action.
They were nearly at the end of their eight kilometre run on Friday afternoon and had just come off a track and onto the street at Papakowhai, near the college, when they saw smoke come from the rear of the house, said initial training school head Inspector Sean McManus.
They found fire from a food smoker had got in behind an exterior wall at the back of the house and into the roof area.
The recruits grabbed hoses at the house and from neighbours and kept the fire under control until the fire service arrived.
”The occupant was very grateful for the quick thinking and actions of the recruits and I too applaud their efforts,” said Mr McManus.
GOLDEN TIME: Porirua Fire Brigade Lfe Member Brian Fisher and wife Noeline have a celebration planned in the coming days to mark 50 years married. They say “give and take” and “plenty of tolerance” are the keys to making it work.
Noeline Fisher is testament to that saying about good things coming in threes.
It has been a big few weeks for the Ranui grandmother. It began with the Service to Sport trophy she received at the Porirua Sports Awards, which she says has “blown me out of this world”.
Those associated with netball in Porirua would say it is well- deserved, with Noeline dedicating more than 40 years to the Kapi Mana and Northern Utd clubs, from administration to announcing games on a Saturday, to everything in between.
“I look at the award and think of all the wonderful people who have come before me, the leadership it’s taken when netball was just beginning in Porirua. That walk up to the stage [at the sports awards] was just mind-boggling, I didn’t think I was going to get there.”
Number two on the list was the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cup. She and her husband, Brian, like many other Kiwis, were on the edge of their seats for the epic final against France. They took their granddaughters Eva and Lily off to the big parade in Wellington on Wednesday.
The third event, this week, is the small matter of a 50th wedding anniversary. Noeline and Brian were married in a church in Tawa on November 4, 1961, both just 19 years old. They can not believe how time has flown.
“We’re busier now than we’ve ever been. I think sometimes we need to slow down a bit,” Noeline says. “We can’t do things as fast as we used to, but we look after each other.”
The couple are well-known in the Porirua community for their involvement in sport, Noeline’s work at Porirua Hospital and as a telephonist in Tawa, and Brian’s long service with Porirua Fire Brigade. They have seen Tawa and Porirua grow from “villages”, with a few shops and dirt tracks.
Brian recalls his paper route in Porirua was split up five times in four years, as the city was expanding so quickly. They have lived in the same house, which Brian built, for more than 47 years, and raised four children there.
“We had thought about moving into a retirement village, but we’ve done up the house instead,” he says. “I really enjoy Porirua, everything’s on your doorstep, it’s a great place to raise a family.”
Like every couple, they have had a few “blues” over the years, but nothing too serious. After one argument, Brian went to the fire station to spend the night but he came home hours later.
It was the fire service which gave them a fright on their wedding day too. Brian remembers, “We got married at 3pm and the fire siren went off. I thought ‘there goes my ride’ because they were due to pick us up [on one of the engines], but they let the siren off to let people know we’d got married, the cheeky buggers. You wouldn’t get away with that today, someone would get fired.”
The owners of a Paekakariki property were overseas when burglars broke into their newly renovated home and torched it.
Nigel Welch said his brother, Rodney Welch, and his sister-in-law, Camilla, were in Fiji when burglars allegedly broke into their home near Pauatahanui, removed items and set the house on fire early yesterday.
Mr Welch sent them photos of the charred remains of their 570sq m home on Paekakariki Hill Rd. The family had just completed a year-long renovation that included recladding the house and putting in double-glazed windows.
“Camilla was having breakfast [when I rang] and asked if she had any clothes to come back to. I said: `You better go shopping’.”
Mr Welch said nothing was retrievable from the house. “Burglary is one thing, but to burn down a house is another. No-one was hurt, but it was pathetic, stupid and totally unnecessary.”
The property had a rateable value of about $1 million.
Passing motorists alerted the fire service about 3am.
Neighbouring rural property owners were unaware of the fire until about 4am.
One said she heard dogs barking about 1.30am, but nothing else raised suspicions of a fire.
Firefighters dampened down hot spots in the home and the scene was later examined by fire investigators.
Detective Sergeant Steve Dunn said the fire was being treated as suspicious. “It appears property had been taken from inside.”
Porirua police wanted to hear from anyone in the area who had experienced people cold calling – knocking on their doors and asking questions – over the past few weeks.
Mrs Welch was named Her Wellington’s businesswoman of the year for 2010.
She is the co-owner and general manager of Label and Litho, a printing business with 41 staff which makes self-adhesive labels and was also a finalist in this year’s Green Gold Awards for sustainable businesses.
An early morning fire at Bunnings Warehouse in Porirua was not enough to keep the outlet closed today even though fire fighters had to use breathing equipment and thermal imaging as they tackled the blaze.
Four engines and a command unit attended the fire at the Heriot Drive building supplies outlet at 12.48am this morning.
Porirua senior station officer Trevor Sheehan said they arrived to find the building dense with smoke from a fire that had broken out in the paint mixing area.
”We had to force entry. The place was heavily smoke-logged, and we made entry with thermal imaging cameras and located the fire in the centre of the shop in the paint preparation area.
”We also had to use breathing apparatus. Hell yeah.”
The fire had been largely extinguished by the sprinkler system when the fire service arrived, Mr Sheehan said.
”There were some small areas we extinguished with a hose reel.”
While the smoke was dense, the damage from the flames itself was contained to a four-square-metre area, Mr Sheehan said.
A spokeswoman for Bunnings said they were made of tough stuff in Porirua and the shop was ”open for business as usual” today.
Fire safety officers are investigating the cause of the fire.
RACE FOR LIFE: Porirua firefighter Paul Setefano raised over $2000 for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation to race up Auckland’s Sky tower.
Local volunteer firefighter Paul Setefano has achieved the second highest individual fundraiser for the 2011 Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge, held on May 21. In the challenge, firefighters race up 51 flights – 1103 Sky Tower steps – wearing full firefighting kit and breathing apparatus weighing up to 25kg. It is a fundraising event for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation. Mr setefano, who was the only firefighter to participate from the Porirua Station, raised over $2000 for the charity. He tributed his run up Auckland’s Sky Tower’s 51 floors to Kurt Filiga – a 20 year old Wellington Film maker who died in September last year from leukaemia. Mr Setefano says he was surprised to receive the award. “I’m happy for the charity. I am quite humbled. All I was was a medium for people to give to charity,” he says. “I started really feeling it on about the 15th or 16th floor. So it started taking its toll by then, and I ran out of air [in the cylinder] before the top – you just take the mask off and carry on climbing.” Next years event may be far off, but Mr Setefano says training could begin again soon. “As long as I’m able to climb I’m going to keep doing this – raising money for the charity, and challenge other people to raise more.” -Dani McDonald Porirua News
A man is facing 11 charges relating to a series of fires across Wellington over the weekend. The man, who was granted name suppression, appeared at Lower Hutt District Court this afternoon. He was remanded in custody until later this week.
Lower Hutt police charged the man with arson yesterday over two fires at Wainuiomata Gospel Hall and Wainuiomata Pioneer Church. He has now been charged with eight additional charges of arson and one charge of attempted arson in connection with the following fires:
– A rubbish truck in Petone – The scout hall in Seatoun – Porirua’s Gospel Chapel – Tony’s Tyre Service in Porirua – Rubbish fire at St Alban’s Church at Pauatahanui – A fire at Karori Cemetery chapel (attempted arson) – The Horouta Marae in Porirua – A fire near Kenepuru Hospital – Two portaloos in Tawa
Firefighters dealt with at least a dozen suspicious fires in the Wellington area during the long weekend, from Seatoun to Porirua. The accused was found on State Highway 1 near Johnsonville at 9.53pm on Sunday, allegedly in a stolen car. The arrest came shortly after two fires nearby, one at the Horouta ki Poneke Marae in Porirua at 8.50pm, and another at an empty home near Kenepuru Hospital at 9.30pm.
He appeared in Wellington District Court on Monday, charged with stealing a car, petrol, coffee and sausages.
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