‘Quick response time’ for Palmerston North fire saves house

Firefighters called to a house fire in Palmerston North say if it wasn’t for friendly neighbours and a quick response time a family may have lost their home.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Carlos Dempsey said crews were called to the blaze at a property in Opawa Pl, Terrace End, shortly after 6am on Monday.

Senior station officer Tony Sealey said there had been substantial damage to the house but with the help of neighbours and a speedy response from crews, the owners avoided losing their home.

“There’s a lot of damage to the roof area, that’s where it started, and obviously smoke and water damage throughout the house.”

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A fire investigator was called in and Sealey said an initial assessment would have already been completed, and they were awaiting a preliminary report, but he did not think it was suspicious.

When fire crews arrived at the address, Sealey said the owners of the house weren’t at the property.

“The neighbours woke up to a smoke alarm sounding at about 5.30am, but they weren’t sure what it was as they were a house over and had double-glazed windows.

“It wouldn’t have been obvious to them because the fire was more visible on the back side of the house, which faced the golf course.

“The neighbours obviously have quite a good relationship, they had contact numbers and stuff, so we spoke to one of the neighbours through them.”

Sealey said the response time to the job was what saved the house.

“There will be damage to be replaced and roofing and all of that, but they’ve actually done a really good job at saving the majority of the house from being lost.”

The call to the house came in at exactly 6.11am and crews arrived in seven minutes, then called for a third truck at 6.25am.

“If you think including drive time, making an assessment, getting to work with deliveries and getting into the roof space, it was pretty quick.

“That’s 14 minutes to making it up, getting more resources and getting it under control with two crews.”

The crews had stayed at the house dampening hotspots and were finished by 10am.